Healthcare IT Award

The National Programme for IT, and the wider use of computer technology in the NHS is becoming the envy of the world, with many countries citing NHS projects as examples of good practice. This award will recognise an organisation that is responsible for implementing a ground breaking IT project that demonstrates clear cost benefits to the wider NHS.

2009 WINNER: Alder Hey Childrens NHS Trust - National Paediatric Toolkit (NPT)

Alder Hey is one of Europe’s biggest and busiest children’s hospitals providing care for over 200,000 children each year.  In addition to the Alder Hey hospital site, the Trust provides more than 600 peripheral clinic sessions per year and is staffed by over 2,800 employees.

In his Next Stage Review of the NHS published last year, Health minister Lord Darzi outlined plans for the routine collection of patient recorded outcome measures (PROMs). Prompted by that, and Alder Hey's own mission to put children at the heart of the patient experience, the trust teamed up with specialists from Priority Research Limited (PRL), Panasonic and BT Health to develop the National Paediatric Toolkit (NPT).

The result is a computer-based survey system which uses a collection of animated characters, led by the charming Fabio the Frog, to capture the attention of young patients and guide them through a series of electronic questionnaires. The system has built in audio and visual impairment facilities including voice over in several languages. It also features a survey previewer, which makes setting up patient experience consultations really simple by using pre-defined templates.

It is hoped that the computer-based questionnaire can now be rolled out not just throughout the country’s children’s hospitals, but other healthcare, education and social services settings where the views of children are sought.

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