All staff at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds now using 'WhatsApp for doctors'
All 4,200 staff at West Suffolk Hospital are now using a ‘WhatsApp for doctors’ system that is finally wiping out 70-year-old pagers.
Medic Bleep, a new smartphone messaging system for medics, has long been lined up as a replacement for the switchboard system.
The Bury St Edmunds hospital’s trust has become the first to roll out the system across an entire infirmary, building on their status as an NHS ‘digital exemplar’.
Nick Jenkins, medical director at West Suffolk Hospital, said the time-saving programme is key to the efforts in tackling the coronavirus crisis.
“When the pressure is on in healthcare, the last thing that’s needed is a communication barrier,” he said.
“It’s essential to ensure communication continues in the easiest way possible.
“Medic Bleep has made this possible for us - allowing our teams to share organisational intelligence swiftly, meaning they can be reactive and responsive to issues colleagues raise on the ground.
“It’s a huge upgrade from the outdated pager system and has been invaluable to this organisation during the Covid-19 crisis, saving us so much vital time in a period when, genuinely, every minute counts.”
Compared to the previous pager system, which Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledged to replace, Medic Bleep is reported to save nurses 21 minutes per shift and doctors 48.
The app, which is built by Medic Creations, can be downloaded by all healthcare workers, allows secure messages to be sent among staff - with a live directory stating which users are on duty.
West Suffolk Hospital was the first to contract Medic Creations. The app was implemented across the whole hospital after early trials on some wards proved successful.
Medic Bleep also allows for complete governance and the ability to audit, enabling NHS organisations to see files and comms retrospectively - ensuring full traceability and accountability is possible.
Dr Sandeep Bansal, Medic Bleep founder, said: “In a hospital it’s crucial to convey the full clarity of a situation quickly. It can mean the difference between life and death as NHS teams can get the right information to the right people at the right time.”
