FEATURE
Tech Talk
Mental health patients in Camden and Islington will soon get a hi-tech care boost from the Nursing Technology Fund. Tomorrow’s Care finds out more.
Thousands of people with mental health conditions are set to benefit from a technological revolution at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.
A £750,000 capital grant from the Nursing Technology Fund (NTF) will allow the trust to buy state of the art technology such as iPads, laptops and software which will give patients a speedier, more reliable service and allow them more time with their nurses and healthcare professionals. The grant is the largest allocation to any mental health trust in London.
More than 300 iPads and a huge range of supporting software will be funded by the grant allowing nurses and other professionals in the field to get instant access to their patients’ records. Since nurses can also upload fresh data and share records with colleagues and other agencies, instead of returning to base, they will be able to give more face-to-face care to patients.
The grant is part of the second wave of cash from the fund, which was set up by the government in 2012 to help patients by providing better technology for nurses, midwives and health visitors. Recently the government extended the type of organisations eligible for funds to include a wider range of healthcare providers, such as mental health trusts.
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Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust (C&I) provides a wide range of mental health support services for people in London including crisis support, help with substance abuse, and dementia related services, among other mental health needs. Health provision in the trust is already in a period of rapid change with the introduction of a new electronic patient record system called Carenotes.
“This is a quantum leap forward for our service provision,” said the trust's Associate Director of Information and Communications Technology, David Jackland. “This new technology will have an incredibly liberating effect on our staff and help us enormously in our work with partner agencies. This is nothing short of a revolution in our capabilities.”
Staff across the trust put their heads together to make a watertight case for the grant money. “There was a lot of number crunching that had to be done including a value for money analysis and a financial analysis in order to meet the Department of Health’s expectations,” said David. “It was time consuming but we all knew how important it was that we got everything right. Fortunately everyone’s hard work paid off and we are very grateful to everyone in the trust who worked on it.”
The Nursing Technology Fund aims to let nurses get their hands on the latest breakthroughs in digital. These include providing access to the digital care records across the community and capturing clinical data at the point of care, which can dramatically slash the amount of time spent on old-fashioned paperwork. Trusts who already use this technology say that it has had a transformative effect on the patient care they can offer.
Claire Johnston, Director of Nursing and People at C&I and a Champion for IT and its ability to improve patient care and delivery processes commented: “One of the questions nurses have been asking me most frequently is ‘when are we going to go mobile?’ It's a real thrill to be able to tell them that that day is coming very soon!”
With this new award coinciding with a major change from one electronic patient record system to another, the trust has digital and mobile working very high on its agenda for current and future care and efficiency improvements. There is eager anticipation from the nursing teams primed and keen to introduce these new tools in the field when engaging with service users. Armed with 300 new iPads, community nursing teams in Camden and Islington are about to update care for the 21st century.
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