South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is to implement digital dictation in its orthopaedic department in April.
The BigHand system will replace the analogue equipment, ‘Cassandra’, which is outdated. It will remove the need for medical notes and secretaries to shuttle between two sites, 20 miles apart.
Marie Scott, trauma business manager at South Tees, said: “Consultants work between both sites, and medical notes are transported accordingly. Depending on the volume of work, typists also need to work between both sites.
“The introduction of digital dictation will reduce the transfer of staff and records between two sites and by doing so increase efficiency.
“Staff will receive work real time, and will not have to wait for clinic [correspondence] to be transported to their office.”
BigHand will integrate the system with the trust’s patient administration system and its own Clinic Builder. This will allow documents to be pre-populated with patient demographic information.
It will also mean that secretaries will no longer have to listen to whole tapes to identify important clinical correspondence that requires urgent action. Staff will dictate using Olympus devices.
The new system will be be rolled out in the form of a live pilot at Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, on 16 April, ahead of a potential installation at the larger James Cook University Hospital site in Middlesbrough on 30 April.
If the system proves successful, there is scope for further roll-out across the trust and the possibility of incorporating BigHand’s voice recognition features.
Scott said: “This decision was taken after a process of user evaluation involving the orthopaedic team. The important factor [in choosing BigHand] was the encouragement of user involvement in the development of the product.”
Vijay Solanki, BigHand UK healthcare sales manager, said: “South Tees are the first NHS account BigHand has picked up in the North East of England, providing a reference point for all NHS trusts in this region.”