St George’s check-in system shortlisted for three Health Service Journal awards
Our emergency department’s new check-in system has been shortlisted for three Health Service Journal (HSJ) awards.
EDck.in (‘ED Check-In’) lets patients check-in to the emergency department (ED) virtually when they arrive. Patients complete a brief questionnaire about their health problem on their own smartphone, and can see their real-time queue position on their phone, and on TV screens in the waiting room.
It was developed to tackle the problems of unclear waiting times – which can cause patient anxiety, which in turn creates additional work and interruptions for staff.
The project is entirely grant-funded, having won the 2019 Health Innovation Network’s Innovation Grant Competition (£10,000), and last year’s St George’s Dragons’ Den competition (£5,000) held as part of the Trust’s Quality Improvement Week.
EDck.in has been shortlisted for the following three categories in the prestigious HSJ awards:
- Acute Sector Innovation of the Year Award – which recognises innovations that are improving patient care
- Digitising Patient Services Initiative Award – focuses on technology and digital systems that improve patients’ access to care
- Driving Efficiency Through Technology Award – recognises the ways technology is helping to make healthcare delivery more efficient.
Clinical Lead for the project, ED Consultant, Dr Gabriel Jones, said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted for not one but three awards for this project. We developed EDck.in to make ED better for our patients. It’s empowering for them to see their real-time queue position and tell us why they’re here, in their own words.
“I’m glad this innovation has been recognised as it shows the work we are doing to improve our patients’ experience in hospital, as well as the working lives for our staff.”
The final stage of the award shortlisting process will take place late January 2021, and the winners will be announced in March 2021.
The project team will also be speaking with other departments to see if they may benefit from smartphone self-clerking, as part of a wider ‘patientcheck.in’ project.
