A Bristol-based healthcare company has won a prestigious national award for how its innovative technology has transformed methods of managing medicines for care home residents.
Invatech Health won the ‘Improving Care with Technology’ category in this year’s Health Service Journal Awards, now in their 35th year, which celebrate the UK’s most innovative and successful projects in healthcare and the NHS.
Invatech Health saw off competition from eight other shortlisted finalists to scoop the award for its Proactive Care System (PCS), an electronic recording system enabling nurses, carers and pharmacists to share real-time information about residents’ medication, and to enhance the safety of prescribed medicines.
The judging panel, which included Keith McNeil, chief clinical information officer for NHS England, and the executive director of improvement for the NHS, Adam Sewell-Jones, were looking for technology innovation that improved patient outcomes and organisation efficiency, engaged with clinicians and patients, supported new ways of working and mainstreamed working between NHS trusts and the private sector.
The PCS technology is being heralded as a safer and more efficient alternative to paper-based recording systems used by many UK care homes.
Research has shown that PCS eradicated 21 of the 23 most common types of errors that occur in care homes when managing their residents’ medication using traditional paper-based medicine administration records (MAR).
After receiving the award on 23 November at a ceremony in London, Professor Clive Bowman, chair of Invatech Health, said: “This award is welcome recognition for the innovative and pioneering work the company has achieved in translating a system that enhances safety and efficiency affordably for care homes. We are immensely proud that the judges have recognised the positive impact of the Proactive Care System in the face of strong competition.”
An independent evaluation of PCS was conducted by Cardiff University in 2015 and evidenced the potential of PCS in reducing errors in medicine management in care homes, improving residents’ safety and reducing wastage.
Results from the study, funded by the Welsh government, revealed that PCS, which is available through all leading pharmacies, has the potential to save £3.2 million to £4.6million annually across care homes in Wales alone.
It’s estimated that care homes currently dispose of more than £50 million of unused prescription medicines every year. The study also found that care home residents were exposed to an average of nine medicine administration errors per week using the previous paper-based systems.
More than 200 UK care homes are now using PCS since it was launched 18 months ago, benefiting 9,100 residents.
Among them is Merwood Rest Home in Blackpool. Its registered manager, Jackie Nutter, says: “Our staff are really happy with the benefits that PCS provides, especially in terms of improved resident safety, time savings and the helpful daily reports to make sure we continue to improve our service levels to residents.”
Alastair McLellan, editor of HSJ, says: “In this year of unremitting toil and increasing pressure, the entries to the HSJ Awards have once again touched record levels. Becoming an HSJ Awards finalist has never been tougher or more worthy of celebration.”
Invatech Health’s PCS technology was also a runner-up in the ‘Digital Technology’ category of the Guardian Public Service Awards, organised by the national newspaper, which showcase the most innovative UK projects and initiatives across public services.
