Nottingham kiosks ‘improve efficiency’

Early research on new check-in kiosks at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust shows they have led to improved efficiency, the trust says.

The trust originally went live with the kiosks running System C’s Medway electronic patient record system in summer last year, covering outpatient departments across the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital.

The kiosks allow patients to confirm their arrival and basic demographic details, directing them to the correct waiting area. They also provide automated notifications to alert staff of a patient’s arrival.

Andrew Fearn, the trust’s ICT director, said the kiosks have reduced pressure on reception staff and allowed them to spend more time with patients, while patients themselves have enjoyed using them.

“The fact that patients have found the kiosks simple to use with immediate payback in terms of speed and convenience is great news,” Fearn said.

The automated notifications of a patient’s arrival have also allowed staff to prepare their notes ahead of a consultation, he said.

Fearn said the trust has collected 35,000 new phone numbers from the kiosks, with patients able to enter or update their own mobile phone records and the information then fed into the Medway patient administration system.

Nottingham has recently gone live with barcode scanning of letters, and is planning to expand the roll-out across the rest of its outpatient areas.

Markus Bolton, joint chief executive of System C, said: “Self check-in is an important part of the Medway integrated EPR, and we’re really pleased to be working with the trust and with our partner Acante Solutions on implementing phase two of this exciting project.”