My Automation Week #13
The launch of the NHS Digital Exchange hosted by Blue Prism Cloud was warmly received and sparked a flurry of conversations with existing NHS Trusts as well as many new ones.
The value of collaboration is vital to scale automation at pace and in a cost-effective way. A prime example recently was between my Trust and our friends at University Hospital Birmingham (UHB). UHB had ongoing challenges with recent changes to the NHS Electronic Referral System (ERS) and the handling of new file formats for clinical document downloads. Within under an hour, the problem was identified, and ESNEFT shared some object code.
Later this year there will be a significant change with the ERS application, and so it would be wonderful if through collaboration we can develop and test the new objects and then share them on the NHS DX. How much time with that save?
I met with Richard Small of Suffolk County Council with whom we have established a strategic automation partnership. While our core business is quite different, there is value in linking both organisations via the Digital Exchange. In the coming week, this will mean the DX will move from NNHS only to across the public sector. I am confident our relationship with Suffolk County Council will result in some amazing automation solutions.
Last week the NHS Tech Plan was released by NHSX. It is excellent to see technology that drives efficiency and saves time for our hardworking staff included in the plan. I was even more surprised to see ESNEFT quoted as a case study. To see NHSX acknowledge and understand the capability and value that intelligent automation can bring to the NHS was a significant milestone for me. Now if only I could stop other NHS bodies promoting and encouraging Trusts to sign up with incompatible vendor solutions. These alternative approaches prevent collaboration, involves paying external companies to do the work we have already done and are not cost-effective.
With concerns around Covid-19 rising, the team have taken measures to ensure we can all operate remotely. Using cloud-based technology lowers the need to attend a physical site, and fortunately, our bots will keep working even when we cannot. I have seen a few future events cancelled, and I would expect this to continue. Luckily with Microsoft teams and remote access, I can do 99% of my work from anywhere where there is decent Wifi.
Thank you to everyone who attended the Era of Emerging Technology event hosted by Convenzis in London. It was an excellent event, small and intimate enough to have some decent conversations.
As today is International Women's Day, it is appropriate to celebrate and recognise the contribution my colleague Isobel George brings to our automation team. Izzie is one of my Senior Developers and presented her first-ever public address to talk about our work at the National Orthopaedics Association Forum in Birmingham. The feedback from the session has been overwhelming. So many organisations are asking for support to move forward with their automation plans. Well done Izzie, and you can look forward to covering more events for me in the future.
Over 200 people attended my webinar introducing the Digital Exchange and enjoyed a behind the scenes tour. I believe a recording of this webinar is available if you missed it. Please contact Blue Prism Cloud for access.
You would have already seen the launch of the Agenda to Change Pay Progression Reminders process. This process was an easy one to develop and took less than two days. Full code, documentation and video demos may be downloaded from the Digital Exchange. I am confident that this process can be used across the whole NHS with very few local changes. If it means employees don't miss out on their pay progression awards, then it was well worth the effort.
Development continues with our patient portal maternity self-referrals and MDT cancer outcomes with both nearing their test phases.
Stay safe until next time.
If anyone needs any help, advice or assistance, please feel free to reach out to me.