Mobile technology for community health workers could increase productivity by a quarter, reduce travel time by a third, and improve patient care, according to the results of an NHS trial.

The three-month pilot by Nottinghamshire Health Informatics Service allowed community clinicians and therapists to securely access clinical systems and patient records on the move.

Users remotely accessed records stored on the Care Records Service (CRS) over a secure virtual private network and were authenticated to log into CRS using the NHS smartcard system and readers built into a notebook PC.

‘The NHS care records system (CRS) gives authorised staff access to up-to-date and accurate patient information, making diagnosis and treatment safer and faster,’ said Barbara Stuttle, national clinical lead for nursing at NHS Connecting for Health.

‘But these records are kept in the office and for clinicians and therapists whose work is primarily in the community, this poses a problem as they are physically separated from essential patient data when at point of care.’

The results of the trial showed potential for 25 per cent increase in productivity, reduction in travel times of 32 per cent, with the potential to reduce commuting by 50 per cent.

On average 96 per cent of patient notes were completed on the day - without mobile working, there is typically a delay of up to 48 hours as workers report back to the office to write up notes.

Users perceived an average of 70 per cent improvement in facilities to do their job.

‘The mobility trial has helped to transform the way community clinicians and therapists work,’ said Stuttle.

‘Users have access to real-time information, enabling them to plan their day better and have direct contact with colleagues and hospitals. This solution is helping to deliver the highest quality care for patients.’

The technology was developed by Dell, Intel and Vodafone. Dell provided 3G-enabled notebooks that could automatically select either GPRS, 3G or 3G broadband network access dependent on availability.