By Alan Lowe, CEO, Visionable
Healthcare professionals are committed to helping any patient who comes through the doors. ‘Patient experience’ and efforts to improve it come up in conversation all the time, but this is no simple task. In an effort to get to the heart of the issue, initiatives often focus on the patient. Yet putting clinicians first is more likely to deliver results.
Patient experience can be boosted by convenience and choice, but meaningful change comes from enabling clinicians to deliver their best work. Patient-centric initiatives might stem from good intentions, but when compared with projects that enable clinicians to treat patients quickly, expertly and with minimal transfers, it’s clear which will lead to better outcomes. Emerging technologies often get spotlighted here, but wide-scale adoption of these unknown and untested technologies is a long way off.
Technologies that help patients today
There’s no doubt that the 5G world will be a game changer for healthcare, but that journey starts with video collaboration technologies. Hospitals, ambulances, and other treatment centres all have the capability to adopt these today. These can connect every clinician in the UK, empowering staff to help patients more effectively in a shorter timeframe.
Video collaboration is the most practical and logical digital initiative starting point as we move towards delivering on the NHS Long Term Plan. How do we know this? Because we’re already working with more than 100 NHS organisations to break down the barriers to collaboration, and to help patients get the expertise they need regardless of distance.
Matching supply of care with demand
The NHS is marking its 71st anniversary and over that time it has treated hundreds of millions of people all over the country. In today’s world, the NHS is working to balance demand and capacity, with pockets of the system under strain. Clinicians need technologies that will help them succeed in this environment – and that means helping them collaborate more effectively with colleagues so that patients can be diagnosed and treated before their condition deteriorates.
Video collaboration technology can offer answers here through helping patients benefit from the best care and expertise from across the NHS, regardless of location. What’s more, the right video solution should also be affordable and easy to implement and use. There are far too many technologies being championed as NHS solutions with no consideration or understanding of the budgetary constraints the NHS faces. By creating efficiencies in matching the supply of care with demand, the NHS can meet patient expectations of high-quality service and timely treatment.
Technology that is implemented with clinicians in mind
Technological innovation within the NHS is nothing new, and plenty of clinicians are tired of overhyped tools and devices that fail to deliver on their promises. This gap between expectation and reality often comes from having not considered the day-to-day problems clinicians face. The NHS needs technologies that are designed around the complexities of the system and provide a tangible way to overcome challenges.
Video collaboration platforms can do just that. They enable better healthcare through helping clinicians seamlessly collaborate with colleagues, whilst flexing to meet the resource limitations the NHS faces. Done right, they can also widen access to specialist clinicians, with video platforms bringing expertise to every corner of the country.
Video technologies must be adaptable, so one platform and one system can be configured according to varying use cases. That might mean connecting clinicians wherever they may be and bringing them together to discuss better patient care and to collaborate more easily. Or it might involve giving patients access to specialist clinicians. This is about removing barriers to healthcare.
With better tools for clinicians comes better patient experience
We firmly believe that our technology benefits clinicians and patients alike. Getting this right is vital, as research indicates improving employee engagement and patient experience must run in parallel to significantly upgrade a hospital’s overall performance. With the right technology in the hands of clinicians, they can better treat their patients. By implementing video collaboration technologies that are fit for purpose, the NHS can deliver for its workforce whilst staying faithful to the patient-centric goals that are its foundations.
Healthcare professionals understand that video collaboration platforms allow them to collaborate effectively when face-to-face interaction is not feasible. By providing a platform that allows seamless connectivity, patients feel valued and clinicians do not have to feel limited by having to drive long distances between hospital facilities.
Improving collaboration between clinicians doesn’t just deliver time or cost efficiencies for the individual trusts involved, but the resultant improvements to treatment outcomes are priceless for patients and their families. Video collaboration technologies allow the patient to feel involved with their treatment by providing a channel for communication where patients can access the most appropriate clinician for their needs. This ultimately leads to better outcomes for the patient’s overall wellbeing.
Tackling recruitment difficulties and geographical challenges
Unlike other technologies, video collaboration platforms are already helping NHS trusts make the most of existing resources and expertise. That’s exactly why our technology is already in use in 50 NHS trusts across the country. One of those is Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, which was challenged by recruitment difficulties, alongside patients and clinicians struggling with the knock-on effects of being a rural region. The organisation needed to find a way to deliver a community-centred model of care that would minimise hospital visits whilst creating better experiences for both clinicians and patients.
By implementing Visionable video collaboration technology into their operations, Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust was able to minimise the number of hospital visits for its patients and create a better overall experience for its clinicians and patients. Importantly, the trust connected all care homes directly to GPs which allowed GPs to conduct some consultations virtually, minimising unnecessary travel for patients and eliminating preventable friction around their medical care. This was especially meaningful for patients in critical or end-of-life care.
This delivered a number of benefits for the organisation including making efficiencies with existing resources and expertise, but more importantly morale grew considerably for staff and patients alike. This was all made possible through a video collaboration platform and shows the concrete results of this implementing this technology. You can only improve the patient experience through technologies that help clinicians do their best work.
Improving patient care today, not in five years’ time
As we move forward, it’s important that clinicians are provided with technologies that help them significantly improve the patient experience. Video collaboration platforms that help clinicians through opening up possibilities for collaboration can make this a reality.
The NHS needs access to technologies that enable its organisations to digitise effectively right now. Its needs are too pressing to debate technology that’s years away from reality. Clinicians can benefit from using video collaboration today and help drive the changes the NHS really needs, connecting them and patients to the entire health service.
