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A healthy connection
The East Midlands Ambulance Service pioneered an NHS scheme called Connecting for Health, the BAPCO Journal looks at how the service has made the scheme a reality via the deployment of Orange Business Everywhere to enable communication between ambulances and NHS data centres…
The East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) is one of the largest ambulance services in England. It was originally formed in April 1999 following a merger of the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire Ambulance Services. Following a major reorganisation it expanded in July 2006 to include Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, with the aim of improving front-line services and offer better care to patients. Across its 70 plus Ambulance Stations EMAS provides Accident and Emergency (A&E) and non-emergency Patient Transport Services (PTS) to a resident population of approximately 4.5 million people.
EMAS widened its remit to include home “see and treat” visits, in addition to transporting people to A&E and as such is delivering more healthcare services than ever before. Clinical Support Managers (CSM) are responsible for overseeing these healthcare services at an operational level and managing paramedics and technicians in the field. They are mobile and always out of the office, but more recently, have been increasingly dragged away from their key responsibilities to return to the Trust to deal with administrative tasks. EMAS has also struggled with increasingly expensive bills as mobile calls were the only method of communicating with staff.
connecting for health
EMAS pioneered an NHS scheme called Connecting for Health with a component called the Emergency Care Solution (ECS) which aims to replace patient paper based report forms and give Clinicians real-time access to patient details, as well as wirelessly transfer data to and from hospitals and A&E via “ruggedised” laptops. To make Connecting for Health a reality, EMAS deployed Orange Business Everywhere to enable communication between ambulances and NHS data centres. From a single data card, users are given fast access to GPRS, 3G and Wi-fi networks. Staff can also communicate in real-time with colleagues with specific areas of speciality to diagnose patient issues, as well as inform hospitals of patient cases prior to their arrival, allowing better preparation.
Patient care often concerns critical, life threatening situations that require immediate action. As such, the ECS scheme required a fast nationwide implementation with little interruption, robust data security to protect patient privacy and ongoing technical support, alongside real-time availability of data. EMAS opted to use Orange Business LAN, a secure, flexible and scalable data solution. EMAS benefits from fixed, guaranteed bandwidth and securely routed data accessible only by EMAS workers. Orange also provided the deployment in a record time for the Connecting for Health scheme.
enhanced productivity
An existing Orange customer, EMAS, supplemented its wireless laptop solution by rolling out BlackBerry handheld devices via the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. This aimed to increase productivity, flexibility and enable clinicians to stay out in the field for longer offering care to patients. Via the BlackBerry devices EMAS was able to stay in constant communication with staff, make calls, receive and send emails, make appointments and access web services. Staff could also easily contact colleagues to perform administrative tasks without having to return to the Trust.
Orange offers BlackBerry devices as part of its extensive mobile device portfolio. EMAS is supported by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, a mobile solution that integrates seamlessly with existing systems and allows centralised control over all BlackBerry handsets.
benefits
EMAS has enabled staff to be more productive when on the move, not only in dealing with back office issues, but more importantly, offering more responsive, more effective healthcare to patients.
Faster, more responsive patient care
Real time access to patient centred applications when away from the Trust
Allow clinicians to handle more functions away from the office and treat more patients
Recover unproductive time
Improve channels of communication with colleagues
Concluding, Neil Laidler, Enterprise Director, Orange Business Services, said, “The importance of delivering real-time data cannot be underestimated for the crucial services delivered by EMAS. The BlackBerry devices, Orange Business LAN and Business Everywhere laptop data cards give staff the tools they need to provide a consistently high level of patient care.”
