Intouch with Health has secured contracts that will see its technology deployed in two leading cancer treatment centres in the North West.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust in Merseyside will introduce technology from the Gloucestershire-based healthtech business.

The central digital dashboards will help manage the movement of patients receiving cancer treatment across their sites.

As part of its project, Clatterbridge will introduce a clinic wait time manager solution to digitally capture information on the status of all patient appointments in progress and automatically generate messages to inform patients and staff of possible clinic delays.

It will also introduce patient self check-in kiosks and digital calling boards to direct patients to locations across the hospital. It expects the suite of solutions to be in use by the end of 2018.

“In the past we have experienced clinic delays, which then impact on other appointments such as chemotherapy,” said The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre project manager Vincent Shuttleworth.

“We have also had to manage workloads carefully on reception desks as large numbers of patients wait to book in or out.

“We are confident that this project will deliver benefits to both our patients and staff, and its impact will be measured through a formal benefits realisation process and reported to NHS Digital.”

The Christie will introduce a centralised outpatient flow management dashboard across its estate, following a trust-wide review of patient flow management practices in line with the opening of its Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) centre earlier this year.

It will also deploy more than 50 digital calling boards and 20 self-service kiosks that will be supplemented by mobile and tablet check-in technology.

Mike Sanders, CEO at Intouch with Health, added: “These two hospitals are at the forefront of cancer care and research in both the UK and Europe, delivering treatment to thousands of patients every year across the North West of England.

“We are delighted to be working with them to support their digital transformation, with the aim of creating a better hospital experience for visiting patients and freeing up hospital staff to focus on delivering the expert levels of care they are world-renowned for.”