According to a recent report from The House of Commons, one third of NHS doctors were described as burned out. Given that people are healthcare’s most precious resource, healthcare organisations must incorporate digital solutions as we emerge from the pandemic to overall support health restoration, staff wellbeing and increase effectiveness in quality of care. Evidence from a report by The Kings Fund, suggests that that if staff are happy and enjoying their work this directly correlates in better outcomes for patients and it’s critical that we now protect this precious resource for a healthy healthcare system.
The impact of the pandemic has provided unprecedented challenges for many industries. While some have established the infrastructure, plans, and training to navigate new ways of working, others have struggled to carry out emergency strategies due to a lack of digital resources resulting in increased work demands, longer working hours and potential burnout.
The health sector in particular has been under immense pressure to keep day-to-day operations running alongside prioritising vulnerable patients in a global pandemic. With the acceleration of remote consultations, long planned changes have been cut at the expense of other services which in some cases has hampered the ability to provide high-quality care.
So, what must healthcare organisations prioritise in terms of digital innovations that can prevent widespread burnout and keep their staff happy, we take a look at three key areas, and the simple digital solutions available to solve these.
Workforce planning to prevent healthcare burnout
The immense pressure felt by our frontline and other healthcare workers over the course of the pandemic means that their precious time must be managed more carefully to allow them the space they need to continue to provide superior levels of patient care. Digital tools that analyse human capacity can help to improve staff wellbeing, are relatively easy to implement and should be taken advantage of.
E-rostering systems reduce significant administrative time and enable a seamless internal experience for both managers and staff to be more productive in their day-to-day tasks and better improve their overall wellbeing. By carrying out e-rostering systems across the board, managers can benefit from having better control when overviewing hours and making sure staff are not over worked. Employees are able to request when they would like to work and take time off at the touch of a button. Overall, this simple digital tool helps healthcare organisations simultaneously benefit from controlling costs and improving the quality of patient care.
Augmenting the workplace experience
Beyond ensuring staff are not overworked and properly scheduled, digital solutions can fundamentally improve the efficiency and flow of internal services to help staff prioritise patient needs and focus more on quality of care. Applying changes to processes and systems, designed with an understanding of the full service rather than single interactions may sometimes have greater effect to workplace experience. A good example of this would be the adoption of HR systems and digital passports that allow staff seamless access to their designated areas.
In 2019, the NHS announced a ‘NHS Passport’ aimed to support flexible working for staff and reduce admin costs. The system allows staff within England to be able to move seamlessly across different NHS sites and take on new roles or offer care to patients where there may be gaps in staffing. This digital approach to HR systems can also further benefit organisations in speeding up the recruitment process and enable a more seamless continuation of learning and development for staff, keeping patients at a key advantage of full quality care.
Harnessing advanced technologies for mundane tasks
Staff spend a large amount of time undertaking mundane tasks when they could be focusing their time and skills on patients. Not only does this disadvantage the patient but also causes a level of stress and fatigue for staff as they juggle between tasks whilst prioritising vulnerable patients. Fatigue and burnout can slow down reaction times, reduce attention or concentration, limit short-term memory, and impair judgment for healthcare professionals. A recently published 2020 NHS staff survey highlighted that “a third of staff are considering leaving their jobs and nearly one in five are thinking of leaving the health service entirely”.
Shifting to digital systems, that incorporate AI and robotics can automate many of these tasks, enabling staff to work at the top of their skill set and spend more time with patients, enhancing quality of care. Easy AI digital solutions such as setting up an online or mobile app to book and rearrange appointments empowers patients to control their care, both to focus on what matters to them but also enable them to undertake tasks usually undertaken by the service.
Digital solutions including robotics can save 5.7 million hours of GPs’ time across England annually. Manual tasks such as issuing pharmaceuticals and restocking pharmacies can take up a lot of time where staff skills could be used elsewhere. Robots can also be trained to do all these things whilst ensuring accurate data is readily available at a faster pace.
Less fatigue, a more streamlined workforce
The pandemic has caused major changes and disruption to the usual working of healthcare organisations. While some planned changes have been accelerated, further digital solutions must be enforced to all service areas to help reduce fatigue and burnout among healthcare staff and protect vulnerable patients now and in time to come.
Perhaps in the future, every time someone says we need more staff, we should challenge this by asking what the data tells you about staffing predictions, how can you reduce the everyday frustration for staff and how can you make better use of their time.
Article by Matthew Cooke, Chief Clinical Officer at Capgemini.