Stockport NHS FT undergoes digital transformation

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust is working with CDW, a multi-brand provider of IT solutions, to improve the former’s digital capabilities to better enable staff and improve patient care through innovation.

The collaboration is part of an 18-month digital transformation programme, and includes introducing cutting-edge solutions at Stepping Hill Hospital, the main acute hospital in the Stockport area.

It has seen Stepping Hill Hospital become the first acute hospital in the UK to implement the Kontakt.io real-time location services, to improve medical device and asset management, identifying asset location on-site helping drive greater efficiency and quicker response times.

Other digital transformation projects, facilitated by CDW, include the implementation of a new Cisco wireless network infrastructure and digital informatics, to support agile working for clinicians through seamless access to data; Imprivata Enterprise Access Management (formerly OneSign), reducing login time to mere seconds and facilitating seamless workflows; and a Zebra electronic blood tracking system to enhance traceability and reduce potential errors.

Holly Carr, chief clinical information officer and clinical safety officer, Stockport NHS FT, said: “We knew we needed to be smarter to maximise and optimise our existing resources. The new technology makes sharing devices and information more seamless and has enabled us to provide the infrastructure and digital capability to support a more agile working environment and more mobile workforce across multiple care settings.”

The digital transformation programme at Stockport will serve as a model for other NHS trusts that are looking to implement technology to improve overall performance.

Phillipa Winter, chief technologist for health and social care at CDW, said: “The forward-thinking vision that Stockport NHS Foundation Trust harboured for integrating technology sparked genuine excitement at CDW. It stands as a remarkable example of harnessing technology not to substitute human efforts but to elevate and amplify their impact on day-to-day tasks.

“This transformative approach not only empowers clinicians to extend their reach to more patients but also affords them the precious opportunity to invest additional, high-quality time in patient interactions, fostering a future where healthcare is not just efficient but deeply human-centred.”

Forward-thinking Stockport is also home to the first of seven laboratories in the Greater Manchester Pathology network to move to Sectra’s enterprise imaging technology in 2023.