Digitising the frontline in the South East

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

The trust used their EPR as a foundation to make a range of digital improvements whilst being supported by NHS England’s Global Digital Exemplar programme.

They replaced hand written whiteboards with touchscreen devices, showing clear up to the minute information about patients and the ward. The devices link directly to the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) to show critical patients care needs and connects to the e-observation system so staff can be alerted if a patient has missed a regular observation when on unescorted leave.

The trust also introduced SHaRON (which stands for Support, Hope and Recovery Online) a secure, clinically-moderated, social, therapeutic network which links up patients, carers and clinicians in a ‘social media’ style format. Patients and their families can use SHaRON as a confidential space and to access 24/7 support for conditions such as eating disorders, perinatal mental health, and child and adolescent mental health.

Eighty per cent of patients using SHaRON said it aided their recovery and readmission of patients to the emergency department is less than 10 percent, compared to a 30 to 50 per cent national average.

For more information on Berkshire’s work read the full case study.