Clinicians, Medical Directors and Commissioners from all over Britain packed the presentation suite at the BT Tower, to see the unveiling of the National Paediatric Toolkit.
The event, staged by the NPT partners (Alder Hey NHS Foundation Trust, Priority Research Ltd, BT and Panasonic) gave attendees the opportunity to view and trial the NPT.
The presentation outlined the key drivers behind the development of this unique, hand held survey tool.
Mark Allen (BT Client Business Manager) started proceedings, discussing BT's involvement with ‘Point of Care Information Technology’.
Valda Smits (MD - Priority Research Ltd) explained the how the three year development, with patients and families of Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, resulted in a toolkit that easily allow users to evaluate patient related outcome measures, and gain access to ‘quality linked’ funding. Displaying the NPT process; design, engage and report, Valda concluded “...through the NPT users can design their own questionnaires, capture the experiences of their patients and report, using real-time data”.
Moya Sutton (Executive Nurse – Alder Hey Children’s Hospital) explained how Fabio the Frog animated characters, designed by children and young people, were used as part of NPT interactive questionnaires to capture the opinions of children and young people, on the oncology ward at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. She concluded her presentation, detailing projects currently being undertaken using the NPT, that will allow the Trust to develop key action plans.
Guest of Honour, Professor Ann Keen (MP, Under Secretary for Health Services, Department of Health) spoke about the need for a patient experience mechanism that was aimed at all ages. Impressed with Fabio the Frog and the NPT, Professor Keen said “I will do everything within my power to make sure this product is cascaded throughout the NHS”.
Guest of Honour, Dr Sheila Shribman (National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity Services) recalled her experiences as a clinician and how it was evident that we do not consult enough with children and young people when it comes to their care and experiences of health services.
Chris Woods (Panasonic) showed how the CF-H1 (the preferred mobile clinical assistant for the NPT) had been developed with the patient in mind.
Finally, the children involved with the development of the NPT, were introduced to Professor Keen who presented them all with gifts from the partners, at the top of the BT Tower.