NHS Fife has won a prestigious digital health award after frontline doctors and nurses have delivered rapid improvements in patient safety by harnessing an early warning technology known as Patientrack.
The health board reduced cardiac arrests by more than two thirds in the busiest area of its Victoria Hospital, and has seen major improvements in managing the sickest patients across the hospital, after only six months of becoming the first in Scotland to introduce a comprehensive electronic clinical observations and early warning system.
Amongst the immediate high impact findings first revealed by NHS Fife in March, it has also emerged that frontline staff have observed some of the most significant and immediate changes in clinical practice ever seen, as a result of the project that has, for the first time, allowed staff to identify patients at risk of deterioration across the hospital and intervene early.
Judges at the Holyrood Connect ICT Awards have recognised the results in improved care and named NHS Fife as winner of the 2016 award for digital health, beating several organisations to the prize. In addition the health board has also become a finalist in the UK's EHI Awards 2016 for the best use of IT to improve patient safety.
Donald Kennedy, managing director at Patientrack, said: "NHS Fife has delivered remarkable results for patient care in a matter of months with Patientrack, a trend which is continuing. It is fantastic to see the hard work of clinical and eHealth teams in the health board recognised for a project which is helping staff to reduce avoidable harm and deliver better outcomes for patients."
Dr Gavin Simpson, consultant critical care and anaesthetics and project lead at NHS Fife, said: "The introduction of Patientrack has meant that, for the first time, doctors and nurses can instantly see the sickest patients in the hospital in real-time, and are automatically alerted to intervene.
"Nurses no longer need to manually phone for doctors to attend deteriorating or vulnerable patients, freeing time for other important clinical tasks. Patients can be better prioritised, with observations captured more accurately and completely."
The Holyrood Connect ICT Award is the latest recognition of the project at NHS Fife. The work to deliver better care and prevent avoidable harm has attracted the attention of other health boards in Scotland.
About NHS Fife
NHS Fife provides healthcare to the 370,000 residents of Fife and employs around 8,500 staff. As a large rural area with varied geography and several centres of population, there are particular challenges to meet the health needs of the people of Fife.
Alongside the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, NHS Fife has 8 community hospitals spread throughout the Kingdom.
About Patientrack
Patientrack helps hospitals deliver safer care - which is also more cost-effective care - by ensuring observation and assessment protocols are carried out correctly and consistently, and by automatically calculating early warning scores and alerting clinicians when interventions are needed. Through early identification of deteriorating patients, and the promoting of necessary assessments, Patientrack helps hospitals meet national and local targets for improvements in patient safety, improving patient outcomes and supporting frontline staff, while at the same time cutting costs and reducing paper. Patientrack was developed in conjunction with health professionals and its effectiveness in delivering both patient safety and cost improvements has been proven in a peer-reviewed clinical journal.