About
A team of researchers have created a prototype for an app/software, which can be used in the clinics by the clinical staff to automatically pre-fill patients' forms with their personal details and health records in order to save up time and shorten each appointment. This eventually would increase capacity of NHS and allow for more appointments and patients seen every day at the clinics. The team would like to host a round table discussion with patients to discuss the project and get your feedback on the prototype.
If you are interested in taking part, please contact Dr Athina Dritsoula: athina.dritsoula.09@ucl.ac.uk
Attending a hospital appointment sometimes means that patients need to wait several hours before being seen by a member of the clinical team, even when their appointment is scheduled in an outpatient clinic. There are various reasons why this can happen. One reason is that an appointment can take longer than average because the clinical team needs time to go over the patient’s history and medical record, which is usually completed by filling up a patient form manually.
To shorten this process, we introduce EMMA, an Efficient Medical record Manager & Administration tool. EMMA will be a web-based software only accessible to NHS staff that will scan patients’ electronic health care records and clinical notes to autofill the preclinical forms used in elective, non-urgent procedures. EMMA is an innovative tool aiming to reduce administration time associated with clinical appointments, increase efficiency, and improve healthcare capacity in the NHS, allowing for shorter waiting times and more patients seen daily. EMMA will run along with the current NHS Electronic Health Records system, designed to offer maximum data security and protection according to GDPR guidance.
We undertook a survey among clinical staff at UCLH, who confirmed that an innovation such as EMMA could reduce preparation time for clinics by up to 40%. A subsequent survey in patients attending clinic showed that 9 out of 10 are in favour of technological tools that can help improve their experience within the NHS.
As a team, we believe in the right to access free and safe healthcare and we are committed to use developing technologies for the patients’ benefit. The needs of our primary stakeholders i.e. patients, healthcare staff and developers, will be at the centre of EMMA’s development and implementation.
Your feedback is important to us. We invite you to an open discussion in a joint round table where the EMMA prototype will be presented to collate your views.
