TUNBRIDGE Wells Hospital has been commended by top NHS officers and government minsters for its innovative technology that has delivered some of the quickest patient care in the country.
Last month, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) was visited by NHS Chair, Richard Meddings, Secretary of State for Health, Steve Barclay MP and most recently NHS England Chief Executive, Amanda Pritchard to recognise the success of its new digital patient system.
MTW’s Care Coordination Centre (CCC), which has been likened to a NASA control room, uses real-time data to monitor the trust’s 700 beds to reduce the time a bed is empty.
Tweeting after her visit on January 27, Amanda Pritchard said: “I had an excellent day yesterday at @MTWnhs speaking to clinicians and staff from across @NHSKentMedway about how they are maximising the use of data to get patients the care they need faster.
“Harnessing the potential of technology – to support our continued recovery from COVID-19 and improve services for patients and staff – will be front of mind as @NHSDigital and @NHSEngland come together as one organisation from next week.”
After viewing the CCC, Steve Barclay said: “The team at MTW have done an amazing job. You get a real sense when walking around this Trust of just how much has been achieved and the impact this makes on patient care.”
The trust uses TeleTracking’s patient flow platform which has been likened to a NASA control room with the walls are covered in screens that show live data of the movement of patients around the trust.
The system allows hospital workers to move patients into empty beds and ensures that beds are available to patients coming to the emergency department by ambulance.
Since it was opened in November 2020, the system has significantly reduced the number of hours patients are waiting in the ED.
