A group of Exeter inventors who developed a digital platform and app that can reduce A&E waiting times have received a top award for their work.
Researchers from the University of Exeter Business School worked with the South Devon and Torbay NHS Foundation Trust to design and create NHSquicker, which provides live waiting times from hospital emergency departments and minor injury units, and estimated travel times by various modes of transport based on the user’s location.
The app also provides information on alternative local health services such as GPs and pharmacies. The aim is to help patients make informed decisions on where to go for urgent medical treatment in real time. It has been available to 1.7 million patients across the South West since its launch in 2017.
The Exeter team was led by professor Navonil Mustafee and included emeritus professor John Powell, Dr Alison Harper, professor Todd R Kaplan and professor Surajeet Chakravarty. It also included Susan Martin and Andrew Fordyce from South Devon and Torbay NHS Foundation Trust.
The researchers were presented with the Lyn Thomas Impact Medal - an annual award from the Operational Research Society for research that demonstrates novelty and real-world impact - for their work.
The Exeter University researchers initially worked with South Devon and Torbay NHS Foundation trust to develop the system architecture, and the collaboration has since expanded to include multiple NHS Trusts in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
“It’s a tremendous honour for us to have received the Lyn Thomas Impact Medal, which recognises and celebrates the impact of research in providing solutions to urgent problems that affect us all, “ said Mr Mustafee, a professor of analytics and operations management at the University of Exeter Business School.
“We are immensely proud of the success of NHSquicker in helping to reduce pressure on A&E services in the South West by directing patients who require urgent care away from busy A&E departments at peak times to other appropriate centres of care."
Mr Mustafee said although the app could not solve the "huge strain" on A&E, it could alleviate pressure on the NHS by making information on waiting and travel times easier to access.
NHSquicker currently receives data from all acute hospital trusts in Devon and Cornwall as well as one trust in Somerset. It receives real-time data from 26 centres for urgent care, including seven emergency departments.
A new version of the app, which is available for Android and iOS, launched in June 2019 and also provides on-demand information on GPs, pharmacies and sexual health clinics by directly using the NHS Directory of Services (DOS) database.
The researchers said the next stage would be to scale up NHSquicker from a regional to a national setting.
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