Intouch can help reduce unscheduled hospital admissions and length of stay thanks to its innovative self-care education software.

 

South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust: State-of-the-art website design and how to capitalise on it

CHALLENGE
southessexSouth Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT) is the premier NHS Trust in the UK dealing with mental health and learning disabilities. This innovative, award-winning Trust was looking for a health website design to enable them to make patient and public health information available, whilst satisfying the need for accessibility of communications for those who come into contact with the services it provides. This has meant developing the range and diversity of information provided across its entire geographical area, using a variety of access points, in a partnership with Intouch now spanning several years.

SOLUTION
We developed the current SEPT website which initially was targeted towards the provision of services information and health conditions information. Across several years, additional online information resources have been created by INTOUCH to provide answers to the ever-changing NHS Trust and service user needs for a more interactive and engaging dialogue. To create a really rich source of health information for both site visitors and health professionals, we added INTOUCH with Health’s “Public Health Information Service” comprising thousands of fact sheets on medical conditions, local support groups and many other topics. The online membership application scheme was a successful collaboration to maximise the Trust membership in achieving Foundation Trust status.

There was also the joint collaboration between the Trust and INTOUCH in developing the online “Information Prescription Scheme” (Info4u) which was one of the Department of Health pilot projects and now available to tailor information specific to an individual patient or carer – perfectly illustrating the SEPT ethos of “Being in tune with individuals”. Additional micro sites built for the Trust include “There4teens.co.uk” and “There4u.org” to reach both teenage and younger children respectively.

Recent developments have included:
  • an interactive online CarersChat forum to enable carers to access support and information 24 hours a day, plus
  • an interactive HR questionnaire to actively encourage potential job applicants to review case studies and see if they are “in tune” with the Trust ethos, ensuring they recruit the very best people with which to work.
To make the website and all additional content and systems as accessible as possible, we supplied SEPT with INTOUCH touch screen web kiosks to place across a variety of sites, now numbering 47, from forensic units and reception areas to community sites, ensuring that services are available to all 24/7. Some of those provided are wheelchair-accessible and also have provision for printer and audio facilities. ALL of INTOUCH’s systems are available in a touch screen format as standard.

RESULTS
During our collaboration with SEPT we have seen the change in the information requirements of the NHS and especially in a Trust serving those with mental health and learning disability needs. We are proud to work closely with SEPT to assist it to react in a proactive manner to the ever-changing needs of its service users, members and the general public, from development to practical support and public training at events like Carer’s Week. The diversity of information systems and websites we have provided has continued to evolve and allow SEPT to increasingly engage all those in contact with it’s services and to maintain it’s leading position within the NHS. Our partnership in the Department of Health pilot project has continued to raise the professional profile of both SEPT and INTOUCH as innovators in healthcare and supporting systems.