North Lincs community nurses get mobile

Community nurses in North Lincolnshire are to get wireless rugged laptops in one of the largest deployments yet of mobile technology to staff working outside hospitals.

BT Health will supply the laptops with built in remote access technology under a five-year managed service deal. It will supply up to 400 community staff with wireless-connected, semi-rugged Panasonic Toughbooks. In the first phase of the project 140 staff will get the devices.

The wireless-linked laptops, which include a smart card reader, will provide staff with secure access to clinical records, email and support systems and data when working in the community or in a patient’s home.

The Smartcard reader will enable the trust to use the mobile service in conjunction with NPfIT identification smartcards, required to access the NHS spine and applications such as the Personal Demographic Service and Care Records Service.

BT calls the service Mobile Health Worker – a managed service tailored to the particular NHS customer that covers the devices they choose, a managed, secure end-to-end service, a managed service desk and mobile express GPRS access.

The telecoms and IT services giant, which provides the health service’s N3 data network and is prime contractor for NHS IT upgrades in London, says an early pilot with North Lincolnshire indicated cost savings of £400 per week per clinician could be achievable.

Stuart Hill, chief executive of BT Health, told E-Health Insider that although there had were existing mobile customers across the NHS, the North Lincolnshire project was at scale and breaking new ground: “This will be a pathfinder project for BT, this is the first time we are deploying Mobile Health Worker.”

He acknowledged that take-up of mobility solutions, predicted for years, has been slow, but said a watershed had now been reached; with the product, service and price now much more compelling.

“This is not a pilot, it’s a full-blown, first phase roll-out to 140 staff initially, in a five year-contract, it’s all go,” said Hill. “I think this is the tip of the iceberg of demand.”

Trevor Wright, associate director of informatics for North Lincolnshire PCT and North east Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust said: “Staff involved in the pilot found that the Mobile Health Worker saved valuable time by allowing them to consult patient’s full records in-between appointments and at the time of consultation, meaning they could both keep records updated and make fully informed assessments and clinical decisions without going back to the office.”

District Nurse Kathy Drayton, who works for North Lincolnshire said: “Many of the patients seen in their own homes have complex needs – and being able to access their medical records during the visit means you can make more informed decisions about planning care and treatment.

“Real time access to patient records, planned care and current health service provision can reduce the need for unnecessary referrals and hospital admissions.”

The Panasonic Toughbooks supplied to North Lincolnshire include a built-in antenna, GPRS sim card and BT’s Field Force Automation technology.

Questioned by EHI on the potential of the market, Hill compared the growth in demand for mobile solutions with his experience of early broadband when it launched. “I remember when ISDN first launched, after 18-months we’d sold 300 units, look at the Broadband market now.”