Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust has succeeded in achieving accreditation for the digital work that has been implemented across the organisation.
The GDE program (Global Digital Exemplar) has allowed the Trust to make digital improvements and transform its digital framework, making it more resilient and future-proof going forward.
The main goal of this accreditation is to enhance patient and staff experience. The digital improvements will give patients with better access to health records, involving patients in the design of digital services to enable them to manage their health in the way they choose.
Staff will also have better access to tools to help deliver the safest and most effective care. The transformation work allows the Trust to proactively monitor the latest digital capabilities, allow the patient to access services digitally which will ultimately reduce delays by opting for virtual outpatient appointments.
The digital team has worked extremely hard to improve the services we provide, and we are delighted to have achieved the GDE accreditation. This means we are focused on patient safety and use technology to streamline the services we provide.
This is a very exciting time for the digital team and allows us to adopt new technologies including AI and Machine Learning to enable staff to gain more time to care for patients, promoting a deeper interaction with patients as well as enhancing clinical care.”
Chief information officer, Nick Black
The Trust has partnered with the Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Trust and NHS Digital to learn lessons and collaborate on this project. Working with partner organisations helps to develop and exploit new technologies to improve patient care.
NHS Digital has also been a huge support in Gateshead’s journey of digitalisation and enabled the Trust to find more efficient ways of working.
Kathryn Drayton, Clinical Informatics Specialist at NHS Digital said, “The Trust fully embraced the GDE Programme, and their engagement led to both a successful HIMSS Maturity assessment and GDE Accreditation; more importantly these efforts led to increased clinical engagement and greatly improved patient care and access to services.”