Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has helped postgraduate doctors in training to complete 42 per cent more tasks in two years, by replacing non-emergency bleeps with a task management solution.
The Infinity Health tool helps the doctors in the out-of-hours team to coordinate care more easily, reducing the need for inefficient bleeps and freeing them up to complete more tasks for patients.
Since Infinity was implemented at the trust in May 2021, more than 200 NHS staff across 27 wards have replaced non-emergency bleeps with the tool that allows them to create and assign tasks to their team, with the right information and track activity in real-time.
At the start of the partnership, the team were completing an average of 36 tasks per shift, which increased to 51 tasks per shift in April 2023; a 42 per cennt increase in two years.
This is alongside a 91 minutes per user, per shift saving as revealed in an independent first-year report led by Unity Insights.
Sophie Gealy, Postgraduate Doctor in Training, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Infinity has made a big difference.
“I’m provided with much more information a lot faster, meaning my job list is easily visualised, easier to prioritise and makes task management a lot slicker.
“It’s more secure and there’s accountability when assigning tasks, which can be an issue with verbal handover of tasks.”
The trust implemented the technology following workload and patient safety concerns for their out-of-hours team.
Ward staff used to bleep the postgraduate doctors in training during out-of-hours shifts, who then had to find a phone to ring them back to find out the detail and urgency, which was time-consuming and took them away from patients.
The trust recruited an Out of Hours Coordinator to operate as a central point of contact to triage task requests from the wards to the out of hours team.
However, with Coordinator’s workload intensity, Infinity was implemented to help them triage, prioritise and allocate tasks.
The bleep volume has been reduced, enabling staff can focus on the tasks at hand.
No tasks are missed, less time is wasted responding to bleeps, clarifying details and requesting tasks is more efficient overall.
Dr Luke Gompels, Chief Clinical Information Officer, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“Together with our partners Infinity Health, we are making digital working the norm for so many areas of healthcare, including the way our colleagues communicate with each other. “I’m really proud of the incredible impact replacing bleeps has had in helping the team to provide more patient care out-of-hours. I look forward to the next phase of our partnership.”
Elliott Engers, CEO, Infinity Health, added:“Our previous user surveys showed that Infinity was giving Somerset staff 1.5 hours back per shift and now we know that an increase in capacity is allowing them to do more tasks for patients such as clinical reviews, diagnostic tests, and treatments.
“As overstretched NHS staff work hard to reduce long waiting lists, Infinity can make it easier by helping them to do their job more efficiently, safely, and with less stress.”
