May/June 2004

Hospital patients are not like parcels - or are they? Coventry & Warwickshire Ambulance NHS Trust has found that by adapting a real-time wireless parcels tacking and data capture system, it has been able to bring about major improvements in its patient transport service.

The idea came about following a review by the newly merged Coventry and Warwickshire Ambulance NHS Trust into ways of streamlining its non-emergency service.

The enlarged Trust operates a varied fleet of ambulances, which are used on contract to University Hospitals, Birmingham, the University Hospital, Coventry and Warwickshire and various other organisations.

The Trust wanted to be able to plan pick up and drop patients on time for their appointments with minimal delays, and do it as efficiently and effectively as possible. A live wireless tracking system seemed to be the ideal way to meet all these requirements, and to enhance the service as well.

 

The Trust has chosen Talecom and O2 as its suppliers. Talecom's Wireless Delivered real-time mobile data solution has been taken up by various the parcels carriers including Hellmans Logistics, Concord Logistics, Scarlet Couriers and Klicka Couriers.

The technology uses O2's XDAII PDA, working on the O2 GPRS mobile network. This provides a real-time mobile data capability, plus satellite navigation and automatic vehicle location to within 10 metres every minute.

Ambulance staff now log the time they arrive at a patient's house, the time they leave and the time they deliver them to their destination. This means unique data for every patient is now instantly available to the control centre. At the same time, the additional satellite navigation and tracking facilities improve productivity.

According to the Trust's Chris Brown: "Previously we used mobile radio technology, and organised our vehicles on a journey-scheduling basis. This was fine up to a point, but a recent change in contract specifications, together with new conditions imposed as a result of NHS modernisation, meant that more data on the transport of patients was required, and our existing system was going to fall short of expectations.

"Individual journey times were recorded, but the original system only reported complete loads. We needed a way to track everyone individually, and we thought that if it was possible to do this with a parcel, why not a patient?"

He adds: "I'm very excited by the new system. In theory it could be used to coordinate the movement of emergency patients as well, and also has potential as an application for emergency patient records and other clinical data transmission."

Following its successful trial, the Trust has signed a three-year contract worth around £250,000 with Talecom to supply the system. Other hospital trusts are already understood to have expressed interest.