5 highlights of the Intouch story during 2019

As we begin an exciting new decade for transformative healthcare technology, we take a quick look back on 5 highlights for Intouch with Health in 2019. These 5 are just some of the highlights for Intouch in what became an incredibly successful and landmark year for the company as detailed below:

  • Completing the acquisition of Synopsis Healthcare
  • Launching our Patient Journey Platform in ACT, Australia
  • Launching our Patient Journey Platform in Latvia
  • Launching our Patient Journey Platform with several new NHS customers
  • Hosting our largest and most successful live event with NHS Trusts at the London Stadium
  • Significantly strengthening our team as it grew by over 10
  • Winning the Acute Sector Award at the NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Awards
  • Celebrating 10 years of Digital Transformation at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust
  • Celebrating 1 year of unparalleled success Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with Synopsis iQ (more to be released on this in early 2020)
  • Launching V7 of the Intouch Patient Journey Platform
  • Launching a new Mobile App
  • Upgrading existing solutions including Wayfinding, and Room and Resource Manager
  • Creating a Virtual Training Solution for all customers
  • Rebranding and relaunching Synopsis
1) The acquisition of Synopsis Healthcare

In August, Intouch with Health announced the acquisition of Synopsis Healthcare - the leading developer of software for pre-operative assessment for hospital patients. All Synopsis employees seamlessly transferred over to Intouch, while all ongoing projects and services from Synopsis continued uninterrupted and fully supported by Intouch.

Commenting at the time the acquisition was announced, Mike Sanders, CEO, Intouch with Health said “This is an incredibly exciting time. Synopsis will add to our existing product portfolio, help support growth, whilst widening our offering to our existing customers. The acquisition will allow us to present an end-to-end product that provides a link to the surgical pathway from our Outpatient flow offering. We will be the only provider to supply a joined-up patient pathway of this type.”

Since the acquisition, Synopsis Healthcare has been rebranded to Synopsis, with a new logo launched. Intouch customers who have launched Synopsis software have experienced significant financial gains and operational improvements once the software has been deployed, and we’ll be releasing information on some of these projects (including detailed ROI results) early in 2020.

For more information on Synopsis, please click here.

2) Launching the Intouch Patient Journey Platform in ACT, Australia

In December, Intouch had the pleasure of announcing the ACT Health Directorate in Australia had deployed the Intouch Patient Journey Platform to improve the way it manages the flow of outpatients across its site’s territory-wide. Technically launching earlier in 2019, the announcement was rescheduled until other ACT Health Directorate projects had also been launched. All Intouch technology is integrated with ACT Health’s local patient administration system, ACTPAS, and uses bi-directional messaging (HL7) which provides time stamps for patient arrival, consultation start time, consultation end time, and consultation complete when a patient has departed.

‘A patient-centred approach is a core component of our Digital Health Strategy, and the introduction of digital kiosks that assist with queue management, electronic way-finding and patient check-in services improve the experience for health consumers’, said ACT Health CIO Mr Peter O’Halloran when the launch of the platform was announced.

For more information on this project, please click here.

3) Launching the Intouch Patient Journey Platform in Latvia

In October, Intouch announced it had broken new ground and launched its award-winning platform internationally in the Baltic States, Latvia, for the very first time. The Intouch platform was deployed at The Bērnu Klīniskā Universitātes Slimnīca of Latvia - the only specialised children’s hospital in Riga, which is one of the University hospitals of Latvia.

This landmark project saw Intouch customise and integrate 7 digital check-in kiosks, along with the Check-In, Flow Manager and Calling software solutions into the existing hospital IT infrastructure. Naturally, not only the patient facing software, but also the user software was translated into the Latvian language. Adding to the complexity of this project, Intouch also altered the platform to suit the Latvian social system – including the use of personal numbers, passports and personal identification cards during the check-in process.

At the time of the launch, Kaspars Grosu, Head of Customer Services at Children’s University Hospital in Riga commented “This was a great challenge for the Intouch with Health and BKUS teams because of the cultural, legal and systematic differences. We are proud to be first to break all these barriers and to announce that all is achievable, all you need is persistence and good team. I personally would like to say a big thanks to all who worked to make this happen. ”

For more information on this project, please click here.

4) Hosting the largest and most successful live Intouch Event

On the 26th September 2019, Intouch hosted its most successful annual event when representatives from over 35 NHS Trusts came together to share knowledge and listen to case studies around how digitising patient flow in outpatient settings can lead to an improved patient experience, create efficiencies and achieve significant financial gains.

Taking place at the fabulous London Stadium, the event attendees listened to a variety of case studies and presentations from 7 speakers; including Dame Gill Morgan (Chair of NHS Providers), Jonathan Lofthouse (Director of Improvement at Aintree University Hospital) and Natalie Forrest (Chief Executive Officer at Chase Farm Hospital).

At the event, Mike Sanders Chief Executive Officer at Intouch said “The objective of the day was to provide a platform for teams from Trusts across the UK to share information and best practice, and I believe we achieved it. There was a strong sense of camaraderie among colleagues from different Trusts, all of whom were keen to share their experiences, both positive and negative, of changing the face of the NHS using digital.”

For more information on this event, please click here.

5) Winning an NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Award

In October, Intouch was awarded the Acute Sector Award at the NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Awards 2019 at The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. Intouch was nominated for the award following a 2018 project to transform the patient flow system at Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, alongside digital communication experts, DrDoctor.

During what was already a memorable night, Intouch was awarded Runner Up in the Innovation Award category in conjunction with the Synopsis element of the business for the pre-operative platform delivery at Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

For more information on this award, please click here.