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PRESS RELEASE: 22 April 2005

Addenbrooke's wins top IT award for improving transplant service

Addenbrooke's Hospital has scooped a national award for a pioneering system that helps the transplant team access the latest information about patients on waiting lists from wherever they are working. Addenbrooke's won their category of 'Best use of mobile technology' in the E-Health Innovation Awards 2005 held last night (Thursday 21 April) in London, compered by GP, writer and broadcaster Dr Phil Hammond.

"We are delighted to receive the award," said David Hughes, Technical Manager at Addenbrooke's. "Developing the system has been a real team effort as we've produced it in-house. Not only has it enhanced the way the transplant co-ordinators and doctors work, ultimately, because we are working more efficiently, the patients receive a better service."

David Hughes, Technical Manager, with the award

Handheld Blackberry devices are linked to a central server, enabling the user to instantly access or enter the latest details about patients on the transplant waiting lists, from contact details to appointment dates, blood and other results, to lists of patients waiting for transplants. This enhances the process of making complex decisions about patient care within the tight deadlines that transplant surgery demands.

This means that instead of searching through paper records, transplant co-ordinators and clinicians have patients’ latest details to hand when they receive a call to say that a donor organ is available, helping them assist clinicians in making decisions correctly and speedily at any time of the day or night.

The devices also allow the co-ordinators to interact better with patients, as they can instantly answer questions or enter new information on the devices if they are seeing a patient at a local clinic outside Addenbrooke's.

Patient Richard Jarvis with Renal Transplant Co-ordinator Ramona Loveridge using one of the devices

The devices have a number of security features which ensure patient confidentiality. Information can only be accessed after the user has entered a unique PIN number, a password and a further username and password, which is changed frequently. Data access is monitored to make sure that only designated people can view the information they are authorised to, and data transmission is fully encrypted. However, should a device fall into the wrong hands, it can be instantly disabled.

The system is the first of its kind in the NHS, and even more remarkable since it was designed in-house in a collaboration between the technical infrastructure and transplant teams, with devices loaned by O2, so produced at virtually no cost.

The E-Health Insider Awards, which are in their first year, are the result of a partnership between E-Health Insider, an online news and information service dedicated to UK healthcare information technology, and Intellect, the trade body for the UK-based IT, telecommunications and electronics industry. The awards highlight the application and use of innovative IT solutions in the UK healthcare sector and reward the partnership approach of the public and private sector in delivering benefits to patient care.

For further press/media information contact: PR & Communications Department, Box 53, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ; Tel: 01223 274 433; Fax: 01223 257 143; Minicom: 01223 274 604.