NWAS
Inside
the digital transformation of an ambulance service
a gateway to the rest of the healthcare system . " We are the point of contact for every single provider in the healthcare system - emergency departments and hospitals are the obvious ones , but we also refer to GPs , pharmacies and mental health services as well " Harrison explains .
The digital strategy recognises that technology and digital investment will be necessary for NWAS to achieve its goals . There were other drivers too , as Harrison explains : " We were worried about cybersecurity , as we hadn ’ t been investing into our infrastructure for a long time . For the last two years we ' ve been systematically investing in the infrastructure , replacing critical systems , and undertaking big digital transformation pieces to enable joined up working practices across the organisation ."
Jonathan Sammut , deputy CIO , expands further on the aims of the strategy : " It ' s providing the right care at the right time , every time . There is an element of trust , which is a big word , but there must be an absolute reliability on the service we provide ." " The other thing that ' s becoming more relevant , particularly in the last couple of years , is that people can control their own care digitally . I always go back to the " nan test " he says . My grandmother is quite digitally enabled and quite independent , so she ' ll push herself along a lot in terms of using technology like booking COVID tests and immunisations online . With anything I ' ve ever done , in the back of my mind I run the nan test and ask , could she comfortably pick this up ? It seems a bit cheesy , but I think it ' s important to bring patients on the journey with us , and make it simple for them to digest and easy to interact with ."
An important part of this is the use of data . From a patient perspective NWAS has implemented an electronic patient record . " This allows us to have real time access to patient records ," Harrison says . " Integrated with our dispatch system it starts to give us
138 December 2021