The NHS Western Isles are home to around 26,000 people who are geographically dispersed in no fewer than 280 locations. There are 12 GP practices on the islands providing primary care services, supported by a range of community staff including district nurses, community midwives and health visitors.

The remote geography and an aging population requiring care presents a unique challenge to NHS administrators. Recording of the visit and updating the care record is essential and allows the information to be shared amongst teams and shifts.

This administrative task was calculated to consume over 40% of the Nurses available daily hours due to the need for them to travel to a computer an re-key the information collected. This significantly reduced the amount of hours they could devote to patient care.

As the pen and paper solution was rolled out, Nurses were equipped with digitalised forms and digital pens. This allowed them to record information and then transfer the information over the Vodafone mobile network, whilst in the patient’s home.

• leverage existing working practices with easy user adoption
• enabled over 5,000 extra patient visits per year
• accurate details transferred quickly and securely
• accessible information shared immediately