Royal Surrey and Coventry & Warwickshire take top honours in Health Tech Awards

At our first in person award ceremony in over two years, held on Wednesday 3 November by Building Better Healthcare at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, we were delighted to congratulate two Imprivata customers who took top honours.

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust won Best COVID-19 Technology Solution and, Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership Trust won Best Use of Technology in Primary/Community Care.

Unsurprisingly both awards were driven by rapid adoption of mobile technology during the pandemic, and are prime examples of just how innovative and fleet footed the NHS can be.

Royal Surrey – smartphone solution for remote ward rounds during the pandemic

Over 40 intensive care clinicians at Surrey Hospital used mobile technology to safeguard staff and patients, maximising the use of limited personal protective equipment (PPE) and saving time in the fight against COVID.

Smartphones from Ascom that meet strict NHS hygiene guidelines were used to communicate and carry out ‘remote’ ward rounds in the 24-bed ICU. The smartphones – enabled with Imprivata OneSign single sign-on (SSO) and two-way video consultation technology from Attend Anywhere – enable just one doctor linked remotely to colleagues to do ward rounds. The mobile technology is also used to help relatives to stay safely in touch with their loved ones in hospital.

Virtual visiting was introduced by the Trust for all 14 in-patient wards, departments and community hospitals. A member of staff takes the smartphone to the patient and can quickly and easily sign on to Attend Anywhere via Imprivata SSO with just one tap, no need for passwords. After the visit, the patient, relative and staff can be confident that no data has been saved and the smartphone can be thoroughly cleaned to meet infection control requirements.

The solution was tested and rolled out within two weeks. A tremendous joint effort between Royal Surrey, Ascom, Attend Anywhere and Imprivata.

Coventry & Warwickshire deliver secure home working capabilities for over 4,000 staff in one weekend

Using Imprivata Confirm ID for Remote Access, the Trust provided home working capabilities for more than 4,000 staff over the weekend before lockdown was enforced in March 2020. Employees were ready to begin remote working immediately, without the need to go back to their places of work and without interruption to the services they could provide the public.

Documentation and training were provided online showing everyone what they needed to do to access systems via their NHS laptop or their own personal devices. Primary care providers had access from home to all the key systems including Carenotes, EMIS, Vision, AccurRX, Docman and a full desktop covering everything they would normally have in a practice with access to files and folders.

Clinicians and admin staff alike readily adopted the solution and the new ways of working. Feedback from clinicians was that they could successfully conduct surgeries, hold online consultation sessions, and prescribe and have prescriptions printed - all with no breaks in service to the public.

As these awards confirm, the NHS can be truly innovative, particularly in the face of adversity. Huge congratulations to everyone involved.