Patient confidentiality and security is top of the agenda for one mental health trust in the South East
London, UK (PRWEB UK) 11 January 2012
Implementing digital dictation technology to the Trust has provided a far greater economical and practical process which can be utilised across the Trust resulting in an improved service to patients through quicker turn-around time of correspondence from clinician, to PA to patient. The electronic workflow supports mobile and flexible working arrangements therefore helping to alleviate the management of workload across the organisation, plus developing a cross-over support for secretaries during holidays and unplanned absence in turn improving staff satisfaction.
Les Manley, Director of Information Management and Technology at the partnership trust, commented:
“Like many NHS Trusts up and down the country we are faced with making savings and at the same time improving quality. BigHand provides our Trust with the opportunity of doing both whilst also addressing the very important Trust priority of confidentiality and security in relation to patient information”.
The Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust researched a variety of systems liaising with a number of other major NHS Trusts. Alongside the positive response to the use of the physical equipment other benefits realised from the Kent and Medway project so far have included improved performance in the discharge process with a noticeable reduction in the production of discharge letters and urgent letters being produced within hours rather than days.
Les Manley added further:
“Much of our old equipment used was analogue tapes which presented security risks around them being mislaid, damaged or even lost. With the introduction of BigHand this risk is significantly mitigated. Through the use of BigHand and its workflow functionality, we are also providing opportunities for more flexible working arrangements and cost effective transcription services.”
James Kippenberger, UK Healthcare Managing Director at BigHand, commented:
“Kent & Medway is the tenth Mental Health Trust to now be using BigHand’s software to smooth internal workflow and transcription processes. Kent & Medway’s project extends the trend of dictation technology now having a significant role to play outside of the more widely documented Acute hospital case studies.”
Jo Missing, former Business Support Officer at the Trust was one person involved in the pilot and here she explains what it meant for her:
“The BigHand digital dictation system is a huge improvement on the old tape machines, which seem to have been around forever. The most immediate and obvious benefit is, because the work is all done digitally, we don’t need the old tape machines; more desk space, which is brilliant. Critically, it’s also simple and easy to use. Right from the start it’s clear who is responsible for each piece of work, what that work is and how large the document is; great for prioritising tasks and managing time because there is no searching through those old tapes to find the urgent work.
Another real benefit for the end user is the controls. There are more options for sound and speed as well as being able to change the foot pedal to suit the way in which you work making it far more user friendly than the old system.
“The move to this type of system has been a long time coming and it’s one that has made the task of typing easier and a far more enjoyable task to do.”
Contact:
Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris(dot)bell(at)bighand(dot)com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907
For Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust please contact the Trust’s communications team on 01732 5204441.
About BigHand
BigHand is based out of London, Chicago and Sydney. BigHand is the leading provider of digital dictation and speech recognition technology to the UK Healthcare market. As a UK developer, BigHand has a 20+ strong development and products team based in the UK. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com
About Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) was formed on 1 April 2006 following a merger between East Kent NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust and West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust.
Predominantly providing an extensive range of mental health services KMPT also delivers services that support patients requiring forensic mental health services, learning disability services, substance misuse and other specialist services. It covers the geographical areas of the county of Kent and Medway and employs over 4,000 people. It is one of the largest mental health trusts in the country.
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Chris Bell
02079405907
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