James Fellowes of Dict8 explains its transcription outsourcing system, available when workflows become too much for Trusts’ own medical secretaries.
two different sides: on one hand the roll-out of national CQUINs for the turnaround of clinical correspondence is requiring the production of letters to be sped up markedly to avoid significant financial penalties, whilst, at the same time, the reduction in budgets for administrative staff has led to less resources being made available to achieve this.
T
In order to deal with these issues, the trust needs to somehow increase the capacity of their typing function whilst maintaining (or in some cases even reducing) the existing cost for it.
Digital dictation alone can go partway towards this through improvements in the efficiency of the distribution of typing to staff, but it does not, in itself, actually increase the capacity of the typing function – this can only really be done through the addition of high- quality outsourced transcription to the system.
Dict8 offers an integrated solution in which work is distributed to the trust or GP’s own medical secretaries, through either its own or a third party workflow management system, and then only outsourced to UK-based medical secretaries where the trust’s internal secretarial resources are not able to deal with it in time so as to avoid breaching CQUINs.
The system is in use in a number of trusts and GPs’ practices around the UK, and is helping them to achieve turnaround targets whilst minimising costs and the requirement for the manual management of typing resources through its efficient automatic load balancing functionality.
he typing of clinical correspondence and notes is currently under pressure from
improvement through the use of digital dictation and outsourced transcription.
Digital dictation immediately removed the piles of tapes from the offices and provided a far better working environment for the secretaries. The managers were able to monitor secretarial performance and move work around both on the fly, through a graphical interface, and through automated workflow steps. Whilst this improved matters within the hospital, it was the inclusion of the outsourced transcription functionality that really made a difference. The impact was first felt through the achievement of turnaround targets, which had not been done for some time. This also had a number of subtle effects, such as secretaries not having to spend so much time on the telephone dealing with patients and GPs chasing their letters, and a general improvement in morale within the office as secretaries and managers were no longer behind on their work.
How it has helped in the real world
A certain hospital had just such an issue. They were using old fashioned tape-based dictation machines, which required the doctors to pass tapes to their secretaries for typing. Entering the secretaries’ office was always an extraordinary experience with large piles of tapes sitting with the files in trays and on most available surfaces. The main areas of complaint for the secretaries were:
• ‘I cannot findwork when I am suddenly told to prioritise it by the doctor’ • ‘When I come back from leave
48 national health executive Jan/Feb 12
there is a huge pile of work waiting to be done – it makes me wish that I had never gone away!’ • ‘Patients and GPs are having to wait ages for their letters and keep calling me to find out where they are! I don’t know as you can’t find the tape.’
The departmental managers were also suffering due to missed turnaround targets, lack of transparency within the department (i.e. they couldn’t tell who was doing what) and the pressures inherent in trying to find temporary cover when someone was ill or on leave.
It was a situation ripe for
The medical secretaries are now far more productive. They have found that they can type more efficiently and outsource work as and when they need to, without feeling under pressure and being constantly bothered by those chasing overdue letters. The managers have found that they have a system that enables them to actually see what is going on and provides them with the tools to manage their staff and departmental workload.
The real winners are the patients; they and their GPs get their letters far more quickly than before, allowing their treatment to progress efficiently and with greater efficacy.
For more information
T: 0800 121 8105 E:
info@dict8.com W:
www.dict8.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84