Office space becomes vacant as NHS utilizes mobile computers

The South West London & St George’s Mental Health Trust has added a further 800 tablets PCs to their wards, adding to the devices that are already installed.

This project began with just 200 devices being used at the hospital for early-intervention clinicians who spent less than 25% of their time in their offices. However they are now being fully installed as a means to cut down office space.

By utilizing this new technology the hospital has been able to make significant reductions to their office space, which will no doubt have an impact on office vacancy rates within London.

Jawad Chaudhry, project manager in South West London , said, “The aim with the tablet rollout was to improve clinical care, and we certainly did this.”

“The number of patients seen by staff with tablets increased by 20-30 per cent per week because the staff didn’t need to travel to the office between appointments.”

90% of clinicians have said that it has helped to organise and balance their workload, which in turn made them better able to provide a standard of care for their patients.

Dr James Walker, a consultant physician, said, “The new system is saving time on ward rounds and allows doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and staff nurses to have the information they need at their fingertips.”

So although the devices may have an impact on vacancy statistics, they seem to have had a significant and positive impact on patient care.

The actual impact on vacancy rates is yet to be seen.