Improved patient care at Doncaster & Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Anoto, the digital pen inventor, has completed a project with Doncaster & Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to implement a digital pen solution to help speed up patient feedback. For a £65K investment, the Trust is now saving up to 30 hours a week by using digital pens, uploading the data each day rather than submitting handwritten forms. The Trust also secured CQUIN funding valued at nearly a million pounds.
Doncaster & Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is improving patient care by speeding up the process of patient feedback after implementing a new Digital Pen and Paper solution from technology innovator Anoto and UK partner Ubisys . For an initial investment of £65,000, the solution has revolutionised the patient feedback process, saving staff up to 30 man-hours a week – around 1,500 hours a year.
Deployed across 57 wards and departments, a patient, carer or member of staff can fill in a patient experience form using the Digital Pen, dock it at a PC or laptop on the ward and every morning the data is uploaded, collated and then sent for real-time analysis and reporting. Patient experience has significantly improved in 45 of the 55 areas surveyed. In addition, the Trust has secured Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) funding valued at £913,000.
“We are constantly striving to do better – in terms of patient feedback, patient experience and patient care,” explains Heather Keane, Assistant Director – Quality, Doncaster & Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who receives a daily patient feedback update.
“Our previous manual system was flawed, as it was very time-consuming and the information was often out of date by the time we received it – leading to delays in improvements to patient care. The new system means quick and easy recording of feedback with no disruption to patients and huge time and cost savings for staff. The pens are simple to use, require no training and are familiar to everyone who has ever used pen and paper.”
The Trust plans to continue the rollout, potentially up to 1,000 users. Designed for the hospital’s specific requirements, Anoto partner Ubisys installed its Ubisys Formidable platform on its own network and placed a pen on every ward.
“The joy of Digital Pen technology is in its simplicity – easy to install, easy to use and easy to become reliant on,” adds Ubisys Managing Director, Tarek Ghouri. “Our years of experience working within healthcare means we can focus on helping deliver improved patient outcomes by allowing healthcare providers to focus on their job – caring for patients – and less on administration. We are looking forward to completing the rollout at Doncaster and seeing further improvements.”
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About Anoto Group AB:
Anoto Group is the company behind and world leading in the unique technology for digital pen and paper, which enables fast and reliable transmission of handwritten text into a digital format. Anoto operates through a global partner network that focuses on user-friendly forms solutions for efficient capture, transmission and storage of data within different business segments, e.g. healthcare, bank and finance, transport and logistics and education. The Anoto Group has around 80 employees, offices in Lund (head office), Boston and Tokyo. The Anoto share is traded on the Small Cap list of the OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm under the ticker ANOT. For more information: www.anoto.com.