3rd June 2020
The Informatics Division are all really going the extra mile at the moment, as they have a strong desire to support front line staff at this time. Before COVID-19, the IT team supported 1,380 remote access users. Since COVID-19, a further 643 additional users have been provided with laptops and remote access and are supported by the IT Service Desk. Requests have been received for a further 260 remote users which we are working on. Added to this, in April 2020 there were 11,610 video conferences made in the Trust – In February 2020, there were 270. The IT team have delivered this within existing (small) resources and continue to support these users via Ivanti and telephone queries on a daily basis.
Alongside this, the wider Informatics division has been involved in moving technology to different areas of the hospitals to support service changes, they have developed 2 new databases, they have provided iPADS for patients to connect with family and friends across acute and non-acute hospitals and also made thousands of changes to Information systems to facilitate cancelled clinics, theatre sessions, waiting lists, opening and closing beds, changing functionality on information systems across Directorates to record COVID etc.
‘Virtual training’ has been introduced, ‘real time’ information dashboards have been made available, as well as the team working hard to ensure that data and coding is accurate and real time, feeding information across the Trust and also to Commissioners and the Department of Health.
This is all supported good Information Governance. The Trust response to the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the redesign of the way many services are delivered. The Team has been working with a range of services to ensure that virtual clinics with patients and clients, sharing photographs or videos, as well as enabling hospital virtual visiting with relatives of those who are currently inpatients is done so in a way that does not compromise data sharing or confidentiality. The team have also been supporting services to ensure the appropriate sharing of information with the independent sector who are supporting health and care delivery at this time.
The team have recently made an App available for staff communication, which can be downloaded for free onto any mobile phone and a new ‘virtual waiting room’ will be installed to help run clinics using video conferencing.