Social networking is saving the NHS time and money

The NHS is using videoconferencing to train surgeons

Organisations in the NHS are saving time and money by using social networking sites, webconferencing and remote system access technology.

The Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust has been using Justvisiting.com, a social networking site for patients and nurses or other carers to post messages about patient wellbeing for friends and family – effectively an online visiting room – since November last year, and now claims 15,000 registered users.

“This web site is like a secure and simple Facebook for hospital patients and their families," says Kaylee Davidson, a heart transplant patient who spent time in the Newcastle Freeman hospital last year.

"It enables people to keep in touch with the patient or simply look on their page to get an update on their progress – this is so important when you are away from your loved ones.”

For the moment, patients looking to post messages or communicate interactively using instant messaging or forum facilities need to bring their own laptops or other internet-connected devices into the hospital. But plans to introduce digital TVs mean that patients could eventually use pull-down screens at the bedside for the same purpose.

Ian Renwick, chief executive of Gateshead Health NHS foundation trust, says the service costs nothing for the hospital to provide, or for patients to use, while it saves staff nurses a lot of time in fielding telephone calls from concerned friends and relatives.

Justvisiting.com was founded as a not-for-profit social enterprise in 2008 by a Gateshead publican, Paul Smith, and former NHS manager Jeff Cummings when Cummings was caring for, and visiting, his elderly father in hospital. It obtained business and financial support from the National Lottery, NHS North East, the region’s Strategic Health Authority, and a local authority enterprise grant.

Despite tightening budgets, health authorities elsewhere are making investments in new technology. Many are using videoconferencing technology to provide live broadcasts of surgical procedures for training purposes, saving on travel and accommodation costs for surgeons based in other hospitals, for example, and even selling access and footage to other health organisations to raise extra cash.

Last month saw consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Prakash P Punjabi broadcast a heart procedure from Hammersmith Hospital using a medical conferencing system developed by Multisense Communications around Polycom's high-definition video cameras.

"As well as providing training, this technology can also be used by hospital trusts to generate extra revenue," said Punjabi.

Medical imaging equipment maker Fujifilm is using the VNC Enterprise remote access software tool to give its support staff and engineers control of equipment in hospitals and surgeries across the UK without having to visit the site, in a bid to speed up problem response and resolution, though it is not clear if any resultant cost savings have been passed on to customers in the form of reduced support and maintenance fees.

“The budget [for IT expansion] is there, but we are having to fight harder for it," said Renwick. "We are also looking to review our patient administration system, but that will take years and a lot of money, and introduce Dr Foster [a hospital directory solution developed jointly by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care, and Dr Foster Holdings which gives patients information on health facilities, services and waiting times in their area]."