Clinical Lead for IT and Deputy Chief Operating Officer

Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust

Biography

I am an Emergency Medicine Consultant, currently the Clinical Lead for IT and Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust. The introduction to the presentation will outline an insight into the different challenges the Trust currently faces with its day-to-day internal clinical critical communications.

I will present how dated, siloed digital solutions can be inefficient and affect the patient and staff experience.

Due to task overload, it has been recognised that a fully digital end-to-end communication and collaboration solution was required that integrates the process, the people and technology to close the information gaps and provide a complete digital solution to assist the patient’s pathway.

Ascom was commissioned to deploy a scalable healthcare platform to include critical alarm management, secure clinical messaging, clinical information software and an integrated mobility solution using a healthcare-specific smartphone.

Therefore, the hospital is advancing its digital status and Dr Shepherd (I) will share the Trust’s excitement with the go-ahead of a revolutionary, fully digital exemplar ward, which is due to be opened in early 2023. This digital exemplar ward will include the expansion of the Ascom Healthcare Platform to include its advanced nurse call system, Telligence, and clinical information software platform, Digistat, to provide a patient response nurse call system, which will include workflow task management, EPR integration, medical device integration and collaboration from the side of the bed or whilst mobile. The aim is to improve clinical workflow efficiencies and the overall patient experience.

The Trust’s long-term ambition is to be fully paperless and digital as per the NHS directive. The digital exemplar ward, utilising the Ascom Healthcare Platform, is a major contribution towards achieving the hospital’s digital transformation programme.

Dr Matt Shepherd, Clinical Lead for IT and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust