Chase Farm Hospital (CFH) in London – the UK’s first new-build ‘paperless’ hospital – has improved clinical safety and dramatically reduced admin, releasing more time for patient care, thanks to joined-up technology from Ascom UK.
The hospital, which is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, opened in September 2018. It has a range of interoperable technology built in from the ground up in its surgical ward with 50 beds, 42 of which are ensuite single patient rooms, eight theatres, day surgery, endoscopy, clinics and urgent care centre across five floors.
With its 42 single rooms the hospital faced the challenge of making the ‘invisible’ patient visible - addressing their nurses’ key concern: that they might miss a serious clinical issue while attending to other tasks away from the patient.
Central to the new hospital’s success is a sophisticated nurse call system, co-designed by nurses with Ascom, and integrated with Ascom Myco smartphones, to connect them to patients, colleagues and other technology across the hospital.
Crucially, the technology development work was done by clinicians instead of to clinicians. It meant we had genuine engagement with nurses and other stakeholders as we carefully planned the hospital from the start – taking in the views of estates, IT, domestic staff, porters, admin, allied health and medical staff
The Hospital has been assessed by HIMSS (the global Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) as having achieved stage 6 in the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM). It is one of just three hospitals in the UK to reach this level of ‘paperless’ maturity.The nurse call system is fully interoperable with technology from other suppliers at the Hospital, including GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Cerner and various app providers, to enable a more joined-up, holistic approach to care.