Hospital mobile revolution starts with supply chain
Published: 30 Jul 2002 09:09 BST
Bradford's hospitals are using mobile devices to save money and time on ordering supplies. The system allows workers to order supplies from an approved list, wherever they are in the hospital, and check the progress of those orders. But supply chain management is only the start, and the NHS is just the first customer, according to the developers.
The system, called Wander, was jointly made by KPMG Consulting and the Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust. It is now KPMG's to market and extend for other NHS trusts and the private sector. Supply chain management was the easiest and most cost-effective application to deliver, so the group started there, but it will be extended fairly quickly, said KPMG. "The health service had a need which was best satisfied with this technology," said Gary Howe, a director in KPMG's health division.
"Wander currently covers two-thirds of the supply chain function," said Ben Jones, head of development for design and engineering at KPMG. "The next step is to improve the back office integration, including patient support, and then it will be extended to cover clinical applications."
Because it uses XML, the product is extensible and its components are re-usable, said Jones. Some additional modules will be built by third parties, using public interfaces, he added.
Although Wander was originally an acronym (beginning "wireless application...") it is now a trademark. The development group are tightlipped about what it originally stood for. "It no longer reflects what the product does, so the original acronym is best left in the elephants' graveyard," said Jones.
Two departments in Bradford Hospital Trust which have particularly high levels of stock ordering -- the Ear Nose and Throat theatres and the Paediatrics Outreach service -- tested Wander, and it has now been rolled out to most other departments.
There are only about 50 mobile devices in use, but this will increase to around 80 in the first year, and there are already many more people using it, said Jones, since some people share mobile devices and others access the application from desktop systems.
"We believe there are about 100 to 250 people in the average hospital who could use this kind of technology," said Howe, and he believes there are similar environments outside the health sector.
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