Emendo scores UK health award

CapPlan, designed by Christchurch company Emendo, recently took out the “adopt, adapt and improve" category of the UK’s national health and social care awards, run by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and the Department of Health.

It took the category prize-one of 14 overall-for its implementation of CapPlan at the National Health Service’s Bedford Hospital in England.

The health and social care awards, now in their eighth year, highlight innovation and excellence in frontline health and social care.
 
CapPlan is a healthcare-specific capacity planning tool, which uses forecasting and real-time data to match staff and physical resources – like beds – to patient demand.

It is able to forecast future patient activity and identify potential congestion or overcapacity issues and give staff an overview of how a whole hospital is functioning, rather than each department operating individually.

Bedford Hospital was the first hospital in the UK to adopt CapPlan. The hospital trust wanted to improve capacity planning and better manage patient flow, and saw CapPlan as providing an opportunity to better manage hospital activity and resources.

CapPlan was first introduced to Bedford on a trial basis in March 2007, but was later implemented permanently. Since its rollout, CapPlan has improved patient care and reduced the length of patient stay, as well as increasing data quality and reliability of information. The resulting efficiency improvements have saved the Trust around £600,000 a year so far.

"It's great to be recognised at an international level with this award," said Nick Burns, Emendo co-founder and director of global sales & marketing. "

“We are seeing successful implementations (of CapPlan) in hospitals in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, and it's exciting to receive this recognition in the UK," Mr Burns said.

Mr Burns and fellow director Bart Visscher formed Emendo in 2002 to build and commercialise capacity planning and workforce management tools and services for the healthcare industry under the CapPlan brand.

After initial successes in New Zealand – including the Canterbury District Health Board as its first client – Emendo has now made inroads into overseas healthcare sectors with projects in hospitals in Australia, the UK and Canada, and is planning for growth.

Earlier this year Emendo was named as a finalist in the 2009 Canterbury export awards.