A new app that brings clinical guidelines to the fingertips of ambulance staff and volunteers has been shortlisted in the HSJ Value In Healthcare Awards.

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) launched the clinical app, one of the first of its kind for a UK ambulance service, last year. The app was developed by EEAST to allow clinical colleagues and volunteers to view both Trust and national guidance at the click of a button. Colleagues with an iOS or Android phone or tablet have access, straight from their device, to everything from drug doses and equipment instructions to treatment and care pathways.

Developed with Aimer Media and published by Class Professional Publishing, the free and EEAST-exclusive app contains the huge knowledge base ambulance clinicians of all grades are expected to know, and acts as a vital sense-checker and reminder tool.

Lewis Andrews, EEAST’s Quality Improvement and Professional Standards Lead, was part of the app development team and said: “I am delighted that the clinical app has been shortlisted for this award. It demonstrates how technology can be harnessed to give our staff and volunteers the information they need at the touch of a button. In the ambulance service you never know what you are going to be faced with at the next 999 call and our colleagues are expected to know and retain a huge breadth of knowledge. Having this app helps support them in delivering excellent patient care.”

Nearly 2,000 staff and volunteers have now signed up the app, showing the value it has brought to the service in a little under four months.
The app has been shortlisted in the HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards in the category of ‘the use of information technology to drive value in clinical services.’ The next step will be for the Trust to present to the judging panel in April, with the winners being announced in May.