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The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is trialling enhanced internet connectivity at four hospital emergency departments across its coverage area.
EEAST awarded a contract to Excelerate Technology to trial the provision of significantly enhanced internet connectivity in the emergency departments in Harlow, Peterborough, Luton and Colchester, where access to the internet has traditionally been poor or non-existent.
Excelerate’s Hybrid Connex solution was one of a number tested as part of NHS England’s Future Connectivity Wireless Innovation Trials, of which EEAST was a triallist.
Immediate benefits
The solution has immediate benefits for patients, the ambulance service and hospitals because patients can be transferred much faster with the correct patient data and information made immediately available, reducing hospital handover times and allowing crews to get back on the road to tend to other patients.
For ambulance crews waiting at emergency departments, strong, reliable internet connectivity allows staff to connect to digital systems such as NHS Spine-connected services one hundred per cent of the time, giving them access to patient history and enabling them to identify the most appropriate care pathways, make the right decisions for the patient and provide the opportunity for the best possible clinical outcomes.
Philip Elvidge, Electronic Patient Care Records Lead (Paramedic) at East of England Ambulance Service, said, “When we lose connection, clinical apps stop being able to pull information from our Computer Aided Dispatch system, cease being able to pull information from our Personal Demographics Service trace to bring the patient’s NHS number into record and prevent us being able to upload information to our key partners.
“However, with the new Hybrid Connex trial at these four hospitals we have been able to access the Summary Care Records and National Record Locator consistently, which gives our staff access to patients’ End of Life and Mental Health Plans, giving access to key information any time of the day to help us make the right clinical decisions for our patients”.
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