Top Tech - how The Walton Centre is enhancing staff and patient care

Date: 22 January 2025

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“Analogue to digital” and “tilting to tech” are phrases that have found their way into recent headlines about the NHS. At The Walton Centre we have a significant digital and data-enabled transformation programme underway, to deliver services that work for patients and staff including managing the basics, optimising systems, and transforming services.

Chief Digital Information Officer Matt Gardner explains how this works in practice, “We’re putting patient engagement first, and making ‘IT’ work for staff. Working with colleagues ensures our plans meet their needs. “We’re currently focusing on delivering technology that will improve how our staff order, request and view lab results, how we use referral systems and digital dictation to streamline workflows, and how we adopt advanced data capabilities to help us plan and manage our services. “We’re also collaborating with our partners on the use of digital and data to deliver excellence in neuroscience, and for patients who are under the care of multiple healthcare providers, as well as working with partners on an electronic patient record for Liverpool.”

Putting patient engagement first

Keeping in touch online

In today’s digital world, we know a lot of our patients want to receive news about their appointments and treatment online. The DrDoctor online system, which The Walton Centre has been using since March 2024, has helped us to manage our outstanding appointments and communicate with some of our patients via text message. Since July 2024, patients have also been able to request to reschedule their appointment via this service. In conjunction with DrDoctor, we were the first specialist Trust to go live with appointment notifications through the NHS App. Since we went live, we have decreased the number of patients who don’t attend their appointments from 11% to 6%, saving clinic time and ensuring we can refill those slots with on the waiting list. The app also shows outpatient letters, and we plan for clinic letters to follow in due course.

Being prepared

Currently, ahead of planned surgery, patients have to come into the hospital to complete a clinical screening questionnaire. We are working on an online system which will send this questionnaire out to patients via text message, alongside regular text reminders. This will save patient and staff time, reduce anxiety and the cost of travelling and ensure any issues are picked up well ahead of the planned surgery.

Making “IT” work for staff

Over the summer the Digital Services Team held a series of staff engagement events to gather information about the key IT issues affecting them, from the big to the small. We remain focused on delivering brilliant basics.

Having the right hardware, at the right time, in the right place

Devices on wards to support clinical treatment and care, and for staff corporate use, need to be purchased, installed and maintained. The Digital Services Team met with Ward Managers to map out the patient journey and identified the best devices to support this now, and to aid planned improvements in the future. We’re also acting on feedback from other clinical areas and will be engaging with our colleagues again soon.

Frictionless access

Staff can struggle to remember multiple logins for different systems and often have to contact Digital Services to reset passwords. Single Sign-On eliminates the need for this, saving staff time which means more time focused on patient care. We are also raising awareness of our self-service password reset tools.

Getting connected

We’ve invested significantly in our infrastructure, but there is always room for improvement through our wireless network and mobile signal in spots across the Trust. Staff and patients have had challenges connecting to our services when on site. We’re working on upgrades that will result in easier access.

Electronic patient record (EP2) improvements

We are committed to improving our in-house and external digital systems to help us deliver outstanding care. Most recently we upgraded our digital sepsis tools to help us improve identification and treatment of the sickest sepsis patients. Next, we’ll be focusing on the ep2 patient timeline, enabling staff to access other clinical systems whilst in eP2, and enhanced search functionality. We’ve also been working on a project to digitise all our current paper case notes, to ensure all records are viewable digitally, improving patient experience, clinical decision making and compliance.

Ward boards

Every ward has a limited display of patient information to enable and support patient flow for inpatients. However, the need for confidentiality and limited data presented is inhibiting best use of these boards. The Digital Services Team is meeting with key ward staff to develop new ward boards in line with local and national standards to ensure the most effective and efficient management of the patient journey.

  • Summary:

    At The Walton Centre we have a significant digital and data-enabled transformation programme underway, to deliver services that work for patients and staff including managing the basics, optimising systems, and transforming services.