TotalMobile enables community teams to make informed decisions in real time – spending more time in the field with patients discussing treatment plans, and less time in the office
Mobilising healthcare by enabling community nursing staff access to patient records and information is expected to improve quality of care and result in more patient visits per week
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust has been working with TotalMobile and Vodafone to implement a mobile working solution to help improve the efficiency and quality of patient care in the community.
It is expected to enable each of the 400 community nursing staff to visit more patients every week across all seven localities in the county.
Integrating with the Trust’s patient record system RiO, Vodafone’s total mobility platform – which includes TotalMobile’s mobile working solution – is enabling the community teams to securely access and update patient records, and review policies and critical data from their mobile devices in the field. The new system also allows staff to make informed decisions in real time and talk their patients through treatment plans and equipment using visual aids on their mobile devices. They no longer have to travel to and from the office to access their daily rotas and update patient records between appointments. As a result, they are able to make up to two additional patient visits each day.
“While increasing efficiency is important, allowing our nurses to give the best possible patient care is our focus,” said Graham Softley, Associate IT Director for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. “This solution has enabled us to provide a reliable, secure system to support our community staff. Regardless of their technical ability or knowledge, they are now able to access key information whilst visiting patients in the community or their own homes.”
“As well as allowing us to create a more sustainable, paper-free system, this technology is supporting a closer working relationship between our teams in the community and those working at our hospitals,” said Carolyn Morrice, Chief Nurse and Director of Patient Care Standards for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, “We strive to provide safe and compassionate care, every time for our patients and we believe that this investment will help us to achieve that goal.”
Paul Morton, Head of Health at Vodafone UK said, “Offering patients the flexibility and convenience of being treated from home is an essential part of quality care today. But as patient numbers grow, NHS Trusts are also under pressure to be more efficient. Technology and communications are important assets in making sure health workers can provide the highest level of care in the field.”
Colin Reid, CEO at TotalMobile, “TotalMobile provides an innovative approach to delivering care which provides nurses with all of the workflows and information they need, on the mobile device of their choice, at the point of patient contact. By removing all of the paperwork, unnecessary travel and direct data entry, TotalMobile creates an extra 1 to 2 hours per nurse per day, time which can be used to deliver more and better patient care. We’re excited to be working with Vodafone to bring the benefits of effective mobile working to Buckinghamshire NHS Foundation Trust.”
TotalMobile are working in partnership with Vodafone to deliver the new system which is being funded by a grant from the Nursing Technology Fund – an initiative announced by the Prime Minister in 2012 to support nurses, midwives and health visitors to make better use of digital technology in all care settings, in order to deliver safer, more effective and more efficient care.
