Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has recently invested in the MyPorter portering management system to help improve service resilience and patient flow as it heads into ‘the double challenge’ of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and usual winter pressures.
The Trust’s former management system for its Portering Department had begun to experience failures, resulting in delays to patient and item movements, and its reporting system was difficult to use. Upgrading the existing system would have involved significant additional investment in infrastructure and devices. and considerable disruption during installation.
MyPorter was developed ‘by porter managers, for porter managers’, with its creator, GlobalView Systems, gaining insight from over 100 NHS Trusts before developing the system. Each system is configured to the particular hospital’s individual needs. For Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, the MyPorter software provides dashboards at ward level where staff can request a porter, and the porter supervisor can allocate tasks to porters. Each porter uses a robust Motorola radio which receives text messages with details of their tasks. GlobalView says this reduction in voice communication ‘ensures clarity on tasks, reduces background noise, and enhances patient privacy’. As the porter carries the radio with them it also improves efficiency, since they no need go to a hospital phone to manage their tasks.
Erika Brunt, the Trust’s Facilities manager, said: “MyPorter ticks all the boxes; it’s so much better than other systems we looked at. It’s so easy and quick for the ward to use, and the porters love it too. The accuracy of data has given us much greater insight into how we can best deliver our portering service. This is especially important when we face winter pressures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
GlobalView Systems added: “MyPorter gives real-time alerts on porter location and status, and the dashboard colour codes priorities and alerts, enabling tasks to be resourced accordingly, e.g. sepsis patients can be given priority, and appointments for CT/MRI scans scheduled into the system in advance.
Staff report the system being simple to use, and its reporting functionality not only makes it easy to measure KPIs and product reports, but the intuitive software can also identify trends and deliver insight, such as predicted peaks in demand, improving the efficiency and therefore financial management of the department. The system is currently being expanded to automatically allocate tasks to the next available porter/team without requiring management by a supervisor or helpdesk.
