Advancing trauma coordination in one of the largest orthopaedic hospitals in the UK
The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) is one of the largest orthopaedic hospitals in the UK, known for its excellence in elective orthopaedic care
It operates as a referral hub for complex joint and limb reconstruction, musculoskeletal cancer care, and spinal surgery
The hospital had to adapt quickly to become a regional trauma referral unit in response to NHS England’s directive to free up inpatient capacity for COVID-19 cases
The unique requirements for RNOH’s trauma pathways included real-time digital referrals, trauma case tracking, a tight implementation timeline, and remote training for staff
Challenges
RNOH had to transform almost overnight to become a regional trauma referral unit
The unique requirements for the RNOH trauma pathways included:
auditable real-time digital referrals from dozens of acute hospitals in the region
trauma case tracking and coordination
an implementation timeline within 3 days
rapid remote training of multidisciplinary staff in line with social distancing guidelines
Solution
The Open Medical team of engineers and clinicians went to work to deliver the bespoke proposed solution: Pathpoint eTrauma
The solution facilitates efficient digital referrals, triage, and repatriation of patients back to their home hospitals
The platform became a central hub for managing trauma cases, accessible by the multidisciplinary team involved in patient care
We now have a link on our RNOH website, alongside other referral pathways, so that any hospital who needs to refer a trauma patient to us can do so at any time. The minimum dataset of information we need to guide patient care is on the digital referral, including custom fields unique to our in-house processes and specific to the current Covid-19 crisis. This coded information, presented in a clear and simple format, allows us to make efficient decisions about our patient capacity, theatre scheduling and follow-up, all in real time.
Mr. David Goodier
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Complex Limb Reconstruction – Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust
Outcomes
RNOH’s reputation as a centre of excellence was maintained, and the hospital was able to adapt to its new role in acute trauma care during the COVID-19 crisis
The platform allowed for real-time decision-making and communication with referring hospitals, optimising patient capacity, theatre scheduling, and follow-up
RNOH successfully managed over 320 trauma referrals in the first four weeks, admitting over 180 patients and performing over 170 trauma operations
Delivering acute trauma care brings about an entirely different model of working, and to do this while maintaining our reputation as a centre of excellence, we wanted to ensure we had the best available technology to manage our referrals and trauma workflows. Pathpoint eTrauma has allowed us to do this. As a cloud-based platform with an intuitive interface, we were able to deploy this solution throughout our referring hospitals in London with minimal user training within 72 hours.
Professor John Skinner
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Director of Research and Innovation Centre – Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust