Birmingham check-in used by 15 trusts

Software developed by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has been adopted by 15 other trusts across the UK.

The trust designed interactive technology for self service appointment check-in kiosks in collaboration with Blue Prism and Intouch with Health.

Patients are able to check-in using barcodes on appointment letters or by inputting personal information such as address details or date-of-birth.

The Birmingham trust’s director of IT services, Steve Chilton, said: “We acknowledged some years ago that we would need to develop a system that would support centralised functions and handle large volumes of patient flows.

“We are delighted that what started out as an in-house project aimed at improving our patient and staff experience is now bringing benefits to hospitals across the country.”

The outpatient department at the £545m Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham opened last month, and 18 kiosks are being used to manage the 10,000 outpatients visiting each week.

Dean Grinham, the trust’s IT programme delivery manager, said it is expecting the kiosks to reduce the number of missed appointments by prompting patients to update their details.

“Patients may have had their initial appointment arranged by their GP, but the difficulty of sharing this data within the NHS means out-of-date details are sometimes used when follow-up consultations are scheduled directly by the hospital.”