Royal Bolton Hospital deploys Miya patient flow system

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust has deployed a new patient flow system from Alcidion with the aim of boosting bed availability at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

The trust went live with Miya Flow at the end of May 2024 in an effort to improve transparency and efficiency around the intake, treatment and discharge of patients.

Alcidion’s system allows healthcare teams to view live bed status on a digital ‘journey board’, which also displays information such as ward capacity and patient admission status.

Dawn Devine, head of clinical systems at Bolton NHS FT, said: “Staff have embraced Miya Flow which is supporting more timely movement of patients, and helping our teams as they do everything possible to ensure patients are in the most appropriate bed for them, and at the right time.

“This deployment represents a fundamental part of our plans to embed a control centre within the trust. More immediately it provides our teams with a visual way of tracking of patient flow, in a similar way that airports can track all their departures and arrivals. This will only help to enhance both patient experience and patient safety”.

Miya Flow is an evolution of the ExtraMed patient flow system that had been used at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust from 2007 up until Alcidion acquired UK software company ExtraMed in April 2021 for £5.3 million.

The trust also uses Miya Observations — previously known as Patientrack — to identify patients at risk of harm and deterioration. This has been integrated with Miya Flow to give clinical teams better visibility of patients’ vital signs and early warning scores.

Imran Khan, urgent care lead at Bolton NHS FT, said the implementation meant care teams were able to better map each patient’s treatment.

“Having one source of information to support patient flow, means a better, safer experience for patients and staff. I believe this will lead to significant time and cost savings, helping us to deliver of quality of care in a busy environment,” said Khan.

Paul Deffley, chief medical officer at Alcidion, added: “Finding ways to enable more efficient patient flow, and to reduce avoidable longer lengths of stay, is more important than ever in the NHS.

“For patients this maximises opportunities for prompt discharge, potentially reducing their exposure to clinical risks and supporting their independence at home”.

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust became the first community trust to sign up to Miya Flow in April 2022.

Meanwhile, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust went live with Altera Digital Health’s patient flow solution at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in March 2024.