Northampton and Kettering general hospitals shortlisted for national award for technology use

Northampton and Kettering general hospitals have been shortlisted for a national award for their use of technology to better support frail patients.

The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group (UHN) is a finalist in the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Patient Safety Awards 2022 in the Digital System and Process Development Award category.

The entry submitted referred to ways the digital and frailty teams have used new digital tools to work with community partners and provide better care to frail patients, ensuring they are looked after in the most appropriate care location for their needs, preventing unnecessary hospital admissions.

Digital transformation project manager Emily Hirst said: “Prior to implementing the project, frailty assessments at our hospitals were paper-based, with no access to community or primary care digital records.

“This often resulted in unnecessary acute admission of frail patients to our hospitals due to the limited patient information available to our clinical teams.

“We recognised there was a need for a digital solution to improve the management of frail patients.

“This would help to make evidence-based decision-making faster and more appropriate for patients.”

In October 2021 the two hospitals began to adopt digital tools including an electronic patient record, clinical frailty scoring and more.

The hospital’s digital work forms part of Integrated Care Across Northamptonshire (iCAN) a major new multi-agency programme of transformation work.

Group chief digital information officer Andy Callow said: “There is now a shared electronic health record (EHR) across the county, where healthcare professionals from both hospitals, primary care, mental health and intermediate care (ICT) can access frail patients’ health records in real-time.

“For patients it means they are being seen by the right specialists, in the right place and not being admitted to hospital unnecessarily.

“It also means they do not have to try to remember everything they have been told and don’t have to keep repeating the same information to new clinicians.”

Emily added: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award as it is a recognition of all the amazing work our digital and frailty teams have put into making sure the adoption of these digital adoptions a success.”

The HSJ Patient Safety Awards will be held on September 15 in Manchester.