In a significant advancement for healthcare operations, the partnership between Mitie, a facilities management company, and Navenio, a provider of real-time location services, has yielded impressive results at Cumberland Infirmary. This collaboration, which began in November 2022, has optimised task management within the facility, resulting in improved response times, enhanced patient care, and better allocation of staff resources.

At the heart of this initiative is Navenio's AI-powered Intelligent Workforce Solution, an innovative platform that utilises smartphone sensors for real-time location tracking. This technology has replaced the need for manual task allocation, facilitating improved efficiency in critical non-clinical operations, such as portering, cleaning, and patient transfers within the hospital.

Since the implementation of Navenio's technology, Cumberland Infirmary has reported a remarkable 58 per cent reduction in task response times, a 65 per cent decrease in porter task completion times, and a 247 per cent increase in the number of daily cleaning tasks performed. These improvements have not only led to better management of patient flow, thereby enhancing patient outcomes, but also helped address backlog issues, ensuring smoother hospital operations.

Connie Moser, CEO of Navenio, commented on the initiative's success, “We worked to transform how tasks are managed, ensuring the right staff are in the right place at the right time. By automating non-clinical workflows, we’re giving valuable time back to nurses and clinical staff, enabling them to focus more on bedside care. We’re proud of the impact this has had on both operational efficiency and patient outcomes, and we look forward to continuing our partnership to drive further improvements in healthcare delivery.”

Central to Navenio's platform is the AI Smart Tasking feature, which automates and optimises task allocation in real-time. This has revolutionised the delivery of non-clinical services at Cumberland Infirmary, reducing both administrative burdens and ensuring that support services are more responsive and efficient. The hospital staff can now devote more attention to patient-facing duties, thanks to the seamless chaining together of tasks like patient transfers and ward cleaning that the platform allows, eliminating the need for manual intervention.

Elizabeth Klein, Chief Nursing Information Officer at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, expressed satisfaction with the system's integration, stating, "The integration of Navenio into our existing systems has fundamentally improved how we manage tasks at Cumberland Infirmary. Thanks to the Smart Tasking feature, we’ve seen significant improvements in response times and operational efficiency, leading to better patient care."

Adam Mitton, Managing Director of Healthcare at Mitie, echoed these sentiments, highlighting the substantial time savings and benefits to patient care. He noted, “We’re proud to have worked closely with Navenio to bring this cutting-edge technology to Cumberland Infirmary. The technology is giving valuable time back to clinicians as during the first six months of the trial alone, we saved over 8,000 hours which could be refocused on patient care. The success of the trial shows how the combination of our exceptional people with innovation and technology can have a transformational impact on the NHS.”

The partnership between Mitie and Navenio represents a step forward in the use of technology to enhance healthcare operations, offering a model that could potentially be replicated across other facilities within the NHS to improve efficiency and patient care outcomes.

Source: Noah Wire Services