Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with a digital bed management solution from Servelec, replacing several paper-based systems in the process.
The Flow solution has been implemented for use for more than 500 inpatient staff across the mental health and community wards. Clinicians can enter discharge information directly, identify requests for other hospital services and see patient indicators summarising conditions, treatments and healthcare reviews.
This information is shown on digital touchscreens in real time, so all admitted patients can be tracked by their current status and location.
Servelec, who was recently acquired by the health and social care division of The Access Group, has been working with Berkshire Healthcare for seven years.
Its Flow solution is fully integrated with the trust’s existing Rio electronic patient record (EPR) from Servelec. This creates a joined-up view of the patient record and ensures that all systems have the same information. Not only does this remove the risk of errors being entered, but it also saves time on the duplication of information.
Tom Englefield, GDE systems project manager at the trust, said: “Flow enables our inpatient staff to deliver a better standard of care to our patients and helps remove risk and wastage that comes from old paper-based processes. Staff have adopted Flow into their daily working routines, and it has become an integral part of handovers and multi team disciplinary meetings.”
Flow also helps to improve patient safety. During handovers and multi-team disciplinary meetings the focus is on patient clinical information, and communication between staff and teams is enhanced. Clinicians can also immediately locate patients whether they’re on the ward, on leave or absent.
Additionally, the solution is capable of summarising risk status, patient acuity such as MUST (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool), Waterlow scores used to estimate risk of pressure sores, and Mental Health Section status.
Steve Wightman, managing director of healthcare at Servelec, said: “Our Flow bed management solution is well-established in a number of acute hospitals, but we’re aware the needs of mental and community health wards, the staff and their patients are different.
“We’ve been working closely with Berkshire and their clinicians to fully understand their requirements and develop a solution that provides a joined-up view of a person to help promote better patient safety across care settings. Collaborating with Berkshire and their clinicians has resulted in streamlined processes and time savings, while ensuring patients get the best possible care from staff who feel informed and empowered.”
Other trusts have had success in digitising patient management systems. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust implemented a centrally-managed patient tracking solution and halved its bed turnaround time.