The Isle of Wight NHS Trust, which provides hospital, community, mental health and ambulance services to over 140,000 island residents, has deployed a smartphone based Intelligent Paging app.
This is a direct replacement to the 130 pager devices in use by staff across the organisation.
This move towards a more digital system of paging, with increased functionality, is part of the Trusts desire to continuously improve efficiency within their clinical communications. The ability to generate a full audit log at any time to review historic communications for governance purposes can be seen as a significant advantage over standard paging systems.
The legacy devices were recently retired by the Trust due to the closure of the national Vodafone paging network. Staff who previously carried a pager have been provided with an Android smartphone device by Vodafone, which is pre-loaded with CommonTime’s Intelligent Paging software.
CommonTime worked directly with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust IM&T team to ensure a seamless transition to Intelligent Paging and supporting infrastructure. This swift deployment means clinicians have and will remain connected at all times, removing pressures on switchboard staff.
Lee Haward, Isle of Wight NHS Trust Service delivery mManager (Hub), said: “Our organisation originally chose the system as a replacement for the old long range pager system that was used by our ‘off site on call team’ when the old system became obsolete. It was chosen for its versatility of uses and the different devices the product could be accessed from. The fact that it could be put on our staff’s own devices was extremely useful to us s it can save carrying two or more devices with them. The fact that the app can override the users phones sound settings means they can be on call for a pager but not be disturbed by other apps on their phones.
"Also the system provides an audit trail with acknowledgements which is very important to us as this was something we were unable to do with the old technology. We are now looking at other uses and more products to see if they can be used for more uses across the Trust. The interface is extremely easy to use and was rolled out with relatively little training required.”
Going forward, Intelligent Paging for Teams will enable staff to send mobile alerts, that can include multimedia attachments, to all users - enabling informed decision making in front line care delivery. Alerts will be delivered as persistent notifications that override device sound and sleep settings, ensuring important messages are not missed.
Ian Knight, chief executive officer of CommonTime, said: “We recognise the need to be agile and adaptive in software delivery which is why we developed our 5-day deployment process. As we are partners with Vodafone we can replace an existing pager system with our own in just 5 days, ensuring minimal disruption for all parties involved. This is a fantastic example of how we have been able to support the development of an innovative Trust, replacing a legacy system and providing additional practical value.
"Our team are excited to continue working with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust to provide software updates, new functionality and ensure Intelligent Paging remains at the cutting edge of healthcare communication technology.”
The first scheduled update will add a telephone interface that provides staff with additional methods of initiating a page.
