​Celebrating 'digital excellence' at Royal Liverpool as they become ‘global exemplars’

The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust has been selected to become a ‘global exemplar’ in digital technology.

The news comes from an announcement made today by the health secretary, who introduced the Royal Liverpool University Hospital as one of twelve “global exemplar” trusts in line for funding as part of investment into technology and infrastructure to enhance staff training and digital technology.

Each trust will receive up to £10 million to act as “global exemplars” of digital technology and will be expected to pioneer best practice, knowledge and digital expertise alongside international colleagues.

The aim of the plans is intended to make the NHS easier to use for the increasing numbers of people using smartphones and other mobile devices and those accessing public services online.

To support the innovation of digital services NHS staff will work with universities identified as ‘digital academies’ to help train staff to deliver high quality digital healthcare.

The funding will enhance existing NHS tools including the development of a new online triage system as part of NHS 111’s non-emergency phone line. It will also enable the creation of patient focused health applications for use on mobiles, tablets and wearable devices for patients to monitor and improve their health and lifestyle.

David Walliker, director of information technology at the Royal said, “This is fantastic news for our Trust. In our recent CQC report our innovative projects were highlighted as ‘outstanding’ as we have implemented a new whiteboard system throughout clinical areas to assist staff to manage and respond to patients more effectively.

“The whiteboard system is used to provide staff with information to highlight what beds have been allocated to individual patients, what assessments have been completed and to also highlight any vulnerable patients whilst they are in our care.

“The news that the Trust will be awarded this accolade really demonstrates our commitment to making our services better for patients. By responding to developments in technology and recognising that most people are using mobile technology to access health information means that we can be at the forefront of delivering this type of technology for our patients to improve services.

David added, “Success will be when digital excellence becomes the very DNA of how we deliver, improve and experience health and social care for our patients and staff and that we act as exemplar and implementation partner to other NHS organisations.”