Dorset Health Economy improves efficiencies and reduces time with HC’s Wireless solution

Dorset HealthCare has a distributed workforce of over 5000 clinical and nursing staff distributed throughout Dorset serving a population of three quarters of a million. The Trust took a significant step forward in Digital by Default with the implementation of electronic patient record. For the first time a comprehensive picture of care was available across the 14 Community Hospitals, 9 Minor Injury Units and 568 GPs. Following the successful electronic patient record deployment across Dorset Healthcare’s clinical services, it was recognised full benefits to patients and staff could not be realised due to the challenging mobile phone coverage.

HC’s solution. Commissioners for the county, the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group launched a competitive tender for a comprehensive, patient centric county wide Wi Fi solution. Staying true to the Health and Social Care agenda, the solution had to ensure that all agencies within the Dorset Health Economy could access the Wi Fi, including 3rd sector. Healthcare Computing, in partnership with Dorset CCG, delivered a Wireless solution for the entire Dorset health economy, with access for the CCG, practice staff, and community staff from Dorset HealthCare. This allows the significant number of highly mobile community staff, with over 3000 devices, to access clinical systems, seamlessly roaming across over 130 locations across Dorset. This provides convenient secure access to wireless networking services for use within the practices including; service for laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices.

Challenge. Prior to this project, staff at Dorset CCG and Dorset HealthCare had restricted access to their systems from fixed pc’s or intermittent mobile coverage, particularly in the West of the county. Staff found they were spending more time logging in than actually using the system which is simply unsustainable. Prior to the wireless project they had to rely on taking notes when they were working in different locations and then having to input all of this information into the patient records within their clinical system at a later time when back at their base. This situation was wasting both time and money, and with the risk of missing information or data being lost, as this was not being updated in real time. This delay in inputting the information in “real time” also lessens opportunities for hospital avoidance through interactions between District Nursing and Intermediate Care teams and patients who are deteriorating rapidly. But using the Wi Fi as a foundation and the opportunities it provides for joint agency working, there are invigorated and aspirational conversations underway to provide even better joined up patient care.

Additionally, it is saving time and costs for Dorset HealthCare as community staff do not need to travel back to their base to update the records. The solution is ideally placed to deliver on Martha Lane Fox’s “Wi Fi” for all recommendation catapulting Dorset to the forefront of this exciting, new digital age.