Strapped by rising demand for primary care and a shortage of doctors and administrative staff, a 1,500-location hospital network turned to digital transformation to streamline operations and improve patient access.
With over 1500 hospitals scattered across the UK, The National Health Service (NHS) plays a pivotal role in safeguarding the health and well-being for millions of patients.
Despite its noble mission, the NHS faced many challenges that threatened the efficiency and quality of its services. An ever-increasing demand for primary care, coupled with a shortage of General Practitioners (GPs) and administrative staff, led to risks and delays in providing crucial healthcare.
Discover how Icreon transformed healthcare by creating patient-centric mobile apps and optimizing patient management with an administrative web application.
As the healthcare crisis grew, the National Health Service (NHS) encountered significant challenges that put the mission of delivering exceptional care at risk. On the one hand, primary care demand has surged at an unprecedented rate, a situation worsened by a severe shortage of General Practitioners (GPs) and administrative staff. With this perilous combination, resources were stretched thin, and patient wait times reached their breaking point, placing an immense strain on the healthcare system's backbone.
Primary care, however, wasn't the only problem. Across England, patients faced agonizing wait times of upwards of four hours - a test of endurance that strained patient well-being and cast doubt on the NHS's commitment to timely care. Resulting from an operational bottleneck, administrative teams were ill-equipped to sift through the sea of needs, leaving those in urgent conditions to wait in line, their conditions potentially worsening as each minute passed.
Given these substantial challenges, the NHS urgently sought a solution to streamline primary care appointments and improve the overall patient experience. This urgency prompted the NHS to explore innovative and effective measures to ensure the delivery of high-quality healthcare services to the people of England.
Through a strategic partnership with the NHS, Icreon tackled their business challenges collaboratively. A three-month strategy phase was conducted in consultation with the NHS digital team to understand and architect robust data-security measures. This foundational work paved the way for the creation of a multifaceted digital ecosystem, comprising iPhone and Android apps for patients, an iPad app for hospital use, and a web application designed for hospital reception and department admins to efficiently plan patient intake.
At the heart of this digital transformation initiative was a commitment to enhance patient interactions with the healthcare system. Icreon introduced patient-centric mobile applications that revolutionized appointment management. Patients were able to book appointments by way of a cleverly designed iPhone app, while walk-in patients could log their symptoms and secure immediate appointments using an iPad app.
This suite included an intelligent symptom mapping feature that connected reported symptoms with specific questionnaires so that patients could describe their symptoms in detail. As a result of the integrated algorithms, appointments were prioritized based on symptom severity and medical history, ensuring prompt attention for urgent cases.
As part of this digital solution, Icreon developed a specialized administrative web application for NHS staff. As well as tracking patient appointments, this tool leveraged extensive patient data to facilitate more effective and personalized care. By using the administrative web application, healthcare could optimize patient management and embrace data-driven decision-making.
By focusing on patient experience, efficiency, and quality of care, these pioneering solutions collectively reshaped the healthcare landscape within NHS hospitals.
Icreon's Strategy and Consulting Services developed a strategic roadmap for digital transformation, starting with a three-month strategy phase to establish strong data-security measures. This collaboration led to a digital ecosystem that enhanced patient care through intelligent symptom mapping and streamlined the appointment process, improving efficiency and patient experience across England.
Icreon's expertise in mobile application development revolutionized healthcare by introducing patient-centric mobile apps, including an iPhone app for convenient appointment booking and an iPad app for symptom logging. These innovative solutions streamlined the healthcare experience, offering patients the convenience of booking appointments from their homes or making instant bookings at hospital kiosks. These apps significantly reduced waiting times, enhancing the overall patient experience within NHS hospitals.
Through intelligent symptom mapping, Icreon's solution prioritized patient appointments based on symptom severity and medical history. This personalized approach ensured that individuals in dire need of emergency care received immediate attention, mitigating risks and instilling confidence in patients. The integration of advanced algorithms provided tailored healthcare experiences, addressing critical patient needs promptly and effectively.
Icreon's collaborative journey with the NHS led to the creation of an administrative web application, optimizing patient management through data-driven healthcare decision-making. This sophisticated tool facilitated efficient tracking of scheduled patients and harnessed valuable patient data to enable healthcare professionals to provide more personalized and effective care. By modernizing administrative processes, Icreon enhanced efficiency, contributing to better and more efficient healthcare services for patients.
The suite of innovative apps introduced by Icreon not only reduced appointment waiting times but also provided an overall digital transformation of the patient experience. Patients enjoyed streamlined access to primary care, replacing prolonged waits with a responsive and patient-centric approach. These digital experience solutions made healthcare more accessible, timely, and user-friendly, significantly improving the quality of care within NHS hospitals.
The strategic partnership with NHS has dramatically transformed healthcare delivery, addressing the critical challenges of rising demand for primary care amidst a doctor and administrative staff shortage which previously resulted in long wait times and poor patient experiences. Through the deployment of cutting-edge apps, they significantly cut down on appointment waiting times and revolutionized the patient experience by offering swift, easy access to primary care services.
One of the standout solutions to these challenges was the development of a feature for intelligent symptom mapping within the apps. This crucial functionality ensured that patients requiring urgent care were identified and prioritized quickly, greatly reducing potential risks and bolstering patient trust and safety.
Additionally, the introduction of the administrative web application significantly improved staff efficiency, enabling effective patient tracking and data mining for more personalized care. Empowering the NHS administrative team to optimize processes ultimately resulted in better and more efficient healthcare services for patients.
