Imperial College London is to collaborate with rostering software provider, Allocate, to create a number of tools designed to help manage staffing levels and ensure that patient care is not compromised.
Allocate’s SafeCare is designed to increase patient safety while maintaining efficiency and is used by management for informed decision making on staffing levels.
Imperial College London will be licensing a suite of methodologies to the software, which works by matching the available daily staffing level to patient acuity – the level of care required by patients in hospital.
The methodologies being licensed include the NICE-endorsed Adult Inpatient Ward Safer Nursing Care Tool (SNCT) and the Mental Health Optimal Staffing Tool (MHOST). Incorporated into SafeCare, they will help create a comprehensive solution for making evidence-based staffing decisions.
Manish Patel, head of NHS technology transfer at Imperial College London said: “This is an excellent deal for the NHS and Allocate, allowing for web-based modules of SNCTs and MHOST in SafeCare. The aim for all parties in this venture is to help improve services in healthcare organisations.”
The methodology tools are already currently supplied by Imperial College Innovations Ltd, a commercial subsidiary of the college. Going forwards, NHS customers will have the choice of using the tools through SafeCare or continuing to use them as provided through Imperial.
Paul Scandrett, director of healthcare at Allocate, added: “Individually SafeCare and SNCT have become critical tools to help trusts managing safer staffing, particularly key as organisations face staffing gaps. We look forward to working together with Imperial College Innovations to help deliver the very best solutions to our customers”.
In support of the licensing deal, the team at Imperial College London are working with Allocate, who was acquired by RLDatix last year, on an independent basis through Imperial Consultants – to conduct quality assurance in ensuring the SNCT and MHOST methodologies area accurately incorporated into the SafeCare software.