The Customer
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust is responsible for the provision of hospital and community health services for people living in East Sussex and surrounding areas. As one of the largest such trusts in the country, it serves a constituency of over 525,000.
Its services are for the most part provided by two district general hospitals, Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne DGH. Both these healthcare facilities offer a comprehensive range of surgical, medical and maternity services supported by a full range of diagnostic and therapy services.
East Sussex approached Jayex for a solution to replace their legacy digital signage system. As Mike McKernan, Productive Outpatient Programme Manager explains, “we approached Jayex having been impressed by their professional outlook on the healthcare sector and reputation within the NHS.”
East Sussex’s aim was to replace the old system with a solution that could deliver efficiency and time savings for staff, an improved check-in process for patients, and a better patient experience for visually impaired and non English speaking patients.
The Challenge
- Improve the patient experience
- Achieve efficiency savings across the Trust
- Deliver a solution to meet the needs of the hospitals and the population of East Sussex for years to come
- Improve patient engagement
- Reduce queues and congestion at the two hospital sites
- Free up administrative staff time for other tasks
- Improve patient experience for visually impaired and non-English speaking patients
- Roll out the solution as quickly as possible
The Solution
During July 2017, we installed our patient self-check-in solution, Enlighten, at the Trust’s two general hospitals, Conquest and Eastbourne DGH.
Self-check-in provides patients with easy-to-use touch screens, shorter queues, and improved privacy. Our touch screens expedite the check-in process, making patient authentication as simple as confirming date of birth, unique reference number or barcode. This dramatically cuts waiting room queues and saves valuable administrative time and costs.
What’s more, the system provides content translated into over 50 languages supported by clear, easy to read screens—overcoming language barriers. We’ve also consulted and implemented RNIB recommendations to improve visibility and access for short-sighted and visually impaired patients.
For East Sussex’s staff, the system automates processes and efficiently captures data, with detailed analytics and trend reports—giving clinical staff more time with patients and administrative staff all the information they need to optimise performance.
The Result
Since installing our patient self-check-in kiosks in June, East Sussex reports an uplift in patient satisfaction levels. Mike McKernan explains, “the patients we’ve received feedback from are delighted with the new system, patient opinions have been overwhelmingly positive.” Mike also credits Enlighten with easing waiting room congestion at the Trust’s two hospital sites.
Additionally, the system has proved effective in helping East Sussex overcome accessibility barriers. Mike McKernan told us, “the system has proved extremely helpful in meeting accessible information standards, in particular, its multi-lingual functions have made providing healthcare to the whole community much easier.”
East Sussex also reports tangible benefits for the Trust’s administrative staff. Mike details the change, “we’ve noticed a marked difference in the time our staff are able to dedicate to administrative tasks such as patient outreach. Before the system was installed a large proportion of staff time was spent on patient check-in, Jayex’s solution frees staff up for other tasks.”
Finally, Mike is confident there are further benefits still to come, “we’ve yet to start using Enlighten’s survey module, once we do I’m sure it will help us with insight into patient trends and concerns.”