Scottish Government
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Digital wards

Hospitals across Scotland are set to track patients through digital wards under plans to shake up emergency care, it was announced yesterday.

The new digital patient trackers display a virtual map of the hospital ward on a large touch-screen.  Patient details can be accessed by touching each patient ‘icon’ and free beds can be marked and allocated right away.

This means staff can act quickly to treat or transfer a patient and allows whole system working, easing pressure on A&E departments.

In NHS Borders initial results indicate that the digital ward at the Medical Assessment Unit has the potential to reduce patients’ average length of stay in hospital.

The innovation is being piloted as part of a three year action plan to transform emergency care services for patients across Scotland.

Health Secretary Alex Neil said:

“We know we are seeing more people than ever before coming to hospital as emergency admissions due to the ageing population.

“We need to make sure these services are fit for the future. That is why we are undertaking the most significant ever programme of change to emergency and urgent health care services and these digital wards are just the start.

“We can’t see A&E departments in isolation - we have to look at how patients move through the whole hospital.

“This secure new technology will improve how quickly people are treated in our hospitals and how quickly we can get them back at home. I want all boards to have an electronic system in place.

“The system gives full visibility of what is happening across hospital and cuts down on phone calls and assists with the flow of patients in the hospital, reducing delays.”

Dr Hamish McRitchie of Borders General Hospital said:

"As Associate Medical Director, I know that from the Medical Assessment Unit we can see what is going on in the whole hospital.  The Board Round that takes place in the Medical Assessment Unit means every patient in that ward is reviewed by every member of the multidisciplinary team, every day.

“Our system helps to prevent patients staying in hospital longer than they need to and makes sure that our beds are used effectively.  We don’t want anyone to be in the wrong ward, or in hospital longer than they need to be - and neither do our patients!”

Over the last five years, we have seen an increase of nearly 7 per cent in A&E attendances, and due to an aging population this is forecast to continue to rise.

The Unscheduled Care Action Plan will: 

•           Change the way that people are seen when they are admitted to hospital to make sure that they are treated as fast as possible;

•           Look at how staff work so that people can leave hospital as soon as they are ready;

•           Improve links with other areas of healthcare so that support is in place for people to be treated in the community if possible.

Support for the Unscheduled Care Action Plan:          

Dr Jason Long Chair of the College of Emergency Medicine Scotland said:

“This is an important initiative that will improve emergency medicine across Scotland, and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate on this initiative.”

Mr Ian Ritchie President Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh said:

“I am sure that every clinician in the health service in Scotland would recognise these strategic themes as being important in the efficient and safe management of patients in the emergency context.

“I am particularly pleased to see the emphasis is not just on the front door but also on what happens to patients once their emergency condition has been deal with, and is moving on to what happens to them in the community.

“The Royal College of Surgeons fully supports this high level approach to considering the needs of patients in the National Health Service in relation to emergency work.”

Dr Neil Dewhurst President Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:

“The College wholeheartedly supports this initiative.”

 


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