New partnership confirmed to create better bed management
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) have teamed up with The Access Group to help staff streamline better bed provision across England.
At the beginning of this week, HPT confirmed their partnership with The Access Group, a leading organisation that supplies business software, as, like many of other trusts across England, they are in the process of introducing new solutions to develop a digital ecosystem of care.
HPT are looking to implement the Access Patient Flow Manager (APFM) which enables a real time oversight of all beds within the trust. The NHS foundation is hoping the new technology will give clinical staff and ward managers a clearer picture of bed occupancy, patient conditions and care needs.
Without the visibility of health and care data to effectively manage beds, medical staff attend several meetings a day, carry out multiple phone calls, and send hundreds of emails to gather the required information – a task that is hugely time consuming on clinicians.
Currently, HPT have 400 beds that have been distributed amongst adults, patients with frailty care, non-frail elderly-care, and mental health. However, by moving to a digital system, clinicians will have more time to focus on patient care and will be able to access data that will highlight barriers which lead to delayed discharge.
Although patient wait times are coming down, according to recent data from the NHS, delayed discharge is still a problem within the national health service and social care. The issue leads to longer waits for patients on trolleys, slower ambulance handovers and deconditioning of patients whilst they wait in hospital.
‘Having a single version of the truth is very important to us; one reliable record that we can all see, and we can all work from,’ Hakan Akozek, director of innovation and transformation at HPFT said. ‘Access Patient Flow Manager helps us achieve that for our inpatient flows and will serve as an operations centre from which we can manage the great care and outcomes we deliver for all our service users, together.’
In addition, by utilising the trust’s beds, it will resolve the need for costly private beds; allowing for the money to be reinvested elsewhere within the trust.
Steve Wightman, healthcare director at Access HSC (Health Support and Care), added: ‘We are delighted to be working with Herefordshire to roll out our Patient Flow Manager solution. The software will give better visibility of beds, minimise unnecessary long stays for patients and reduce the administration burden on hospital staff, allowing clinicians to focus on giving vital care to those who need it.’
Images: Levi Meir Clancy and The Access Group
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