Gallery: Doctor – please report to the touchscreen
Image 1 of 5
King’s College Hospital will move towards self-service healthcare with Europe’s largest rollout of touchscreen medical kiosks.n
nFrom early autumn patients at the London hospital will be greeted by the NCR MediKiosk, a touchscreen computer that allows patients to notify hospital staff they have arrived and update their contact details.n
nA total of 50 kiosks are being deployed at the hospital’s dermatology, haematology, orthopaedics, urology and general surgery clinics as part of the wider NCR patient automated arrival system being fitted at the hospital.n
nThe kiosks will eventually take over more roles from receptionists and clinical staff, targeting patients with health messages on waiting room displays and showing reminders of essential information, such as not to eat before an operation.n
nPhoto credit: NCR Corporationnn
This gallery was originally posted on silicon.com.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching hospitals, with more than 6,000 staff providing around 700,000 patient appointments per year.n
nCurrently one in seven patients fails to turn up for a scheduled appointment at King’s.n
nAbout 80 per cent of NHS patients need follow-up consultations and the system will help ensure that emails and letters go to the right place by asking patients to check their details each time they visit, as seen here.n
nThe NCR system can also identify patients who miss appointments allowing staff to reschedule.n
nPhoto credit: NCR Corporation
The kiosks are part of the wider patient automated arrival system, which will also manage information on when clinicians are free to see patients, relaying messages to waiting room displays and broadcasting announcements to call the next patient forward for their appointment.n
nReceptionists’ computers will also be linked into the system – shown here is a receptionist’s screen displaying the traffic-light system for managing appointments.n
nHoward Lewis, ICT project manager at King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, said in a statement: “It will help to improve the immediacy and privacy of patient communications as well as reduce queuing and paperwork.”n
nPhoto credit: NCR Corporation
The hospital, seen here with NCR healthcare director Gordon Lorimer, is also interested in expanding its NCR kiosks’ functionality to capture patient feedback on symptoms such as whether they are having trouble sleeping or walking upstairs.n
nIf the first phase of deployment is successful, the system will later extend to Kings’ accident and emergency, radiology and other outpatient departments.n
nCurrently, the Camberwell Sexual Health Centre at King’s College Hospital already has its own separate touchscreen registration system and self-service machines allowing people to obtain free condoms, pregnancy testing and sexual health screening kits.n
nPhoto credit: NCR Corporation
Another feature of the system not currently scheduled for use at the hospital is NCR Wayfinding, a digital mapping product that helps patients navigate their way around a hospital, as seen here.n
nPhoto credit: NCR Corporation
