King’s uses digital pre-op assessment solution to facilitate remote working

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is using the digital pre-operative assessment platform, Synopsis, to help keep staff safe and support working from home practises.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is using the digital pre-operative assessment platform, Synopsis, to help keep staff safe and support working from home practises, whilst enabling the Trust to efficiently process the backlog of operations that were postponed as a result of COVID-19.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust launched the pre-operative assessment platform, Synopsis, in April 2021 across the Princess Royal University Hospital and South Sites locations, to digitise the pathway to surgery for the 18,000 patients who are assessed for surgery annually across these sites.

In addition to the clinical decision support engine Synopsis provides during the assessment process, the solution has enabled patients to complete their pre-operative health questionnaire from home, and is now facilitating remote working options for staff in its pre-operative triage teams.

Staff can use Synopsis securely outside the hospital to access and update information about patients during the pre-operative triage phase. Pre-op triage staff who are shielding, are required to self-isolate or need to work remotely, can continue assessing patients from home through Synopsis.

Tori Dand, Head of Projects at Synopsis, said: “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Synopsis has been supporting patients and staff across the NHS with infection control by reducing unnecessary hospital appointments and supporting staff to work remotely.

“Patients only need to attend the hospital ahead of their surgery if a face-to-face appointment is necessary, as they are able to complete their pre-operative health questionnaire from home and then share the results of that questionnaire directly with the triage team.

“It is great to see that Synopsis is also enabling triage teams to continue working from home if and when required. With a paper based pre-operative process, this would have been impossible. This is a brilliant example of the power of digital transformation – and how it benefits both clinicians and patients. By supporting staff to work from home, Synopsis is helping hospitals to maintain staffing levels as they tackle the elective surgery backlog, which has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Synopsis is also supporting the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to balance patients across its various hospital sites, enabling patients to move to sites with the highest theatre availability, rather than patients being directed to a hospital-based purely on their location. As the pre-op assessment criteria is now standardised across the South Sites and relevant staff across all hospitals have visibility of patient assessment data, patients can be transferred with ease, supporting a collaborative and ‘smart working’ approach for the triage teams.