Matt Hancock has been extolling the virtues of an app that helps consumers to choose the right A&E department for their needs, another breakthrough that promises a win-win for patients and tech. The apps imagineering and actualisation team in Mr Hancock’s newly formed digital delivery unit NHSX has produced the following helpful “explainer”.
So you’ve stubbed your toe after a few drinks. It looks a bit swollen and although it doesn’t hurt yet it could be painful when the alcohol wears off. That means only one thing: it’s time to head for your hospital’s emergency department.
You jump in your car and head for the nearest hospital, right? Wrong! They may be busy and you’re still quite pissed. You don’t want to be hanging around for hours – you’ve still got two more episodes from the box-set of Line of Duty to watch and half a bottle of wine to finish – and they don’t want you clogging up the waiting room.
Use MyED to find the hospital with the shortest queue in A&E and call you a cab. Don’t wait for some other bugger to get there first!
Book your slot – you can reserve your place in the queue. Don’t worry if you get stuck in traffic, we’ll hold it for 15 minutes. If you know you’re going to be late, hit “book again” and we’ll find you the next best slot. (If you’ve got the paid-for Platinum version of the app you can get seen even quicker.)
Thanks to the Uberlance integration module, a car should be outside within minutes to whisk you to hospital. Don’t forget to tell your driver if you’re bleeding heavily, losing consciousness or just a bit unsteady on your feet. If you know you’re going to need help simply tick the “paramedic associate driver” option when you make your booking (premium service – may increase journey cost by up to 400%)
Do your own triage by selecting “get me in”. Why wait for a so-called medical professional to tell you when you need to be seen? Nobody knows better than you how you feel! Simply choose the emoticon that best expresses how much pain you’re in or how much of a hurry you’re in to get home and we’ll do the rest
Choose your doctor. View profiles of the staff on duty and pick the one you’d most like to be treated by based on their profile pic, hobbies and interests, musical tastes, years of service and current stress levels. Swipe right if you like the look of them. If they also swipe right, it’s a match!
Don’t live in a big city with a choice of hospitals? No problem. MyED will find the nearest hospital, automatically calculate your journey time and lowest-cost travel option and book your rail ticket or flight.
All the clever stuff happens in the background. Your choice of ED is determined by comparing the latest annual waiting time data from NHS Digital. That means you’ve got a better than 20% chance of going to the least busy hospital.
What happens if that toe is really sore and they need to keep you in but there’s no bed available? We’ve thought of that too. The “get me a bed” option will trigger the random automatic discharge of someone who’s been “blocking” one. That’s great for you and great for them – they’ll be all too happy to be going home.
The more visits you make, the more loyalty points you’ll earn. These can be spent with Amazon or Deliveroo – so you can have a takeaway waiting for you when you get back.
Visit the App Store for more great, high-tech solutions to long-term funding and workforce problems.
We really have thought of everything.
Technology editor: Julian Patterson
julian.patterson@networks.nhs.uk
@NHSNetworks
Reproduced at thetrainingnet.com by kind permission of Julian Patterson.
