Harrogate AND DISTRICT NHS FOUNDATION TRUST is Feeling very HaPPi!
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT) is proud to announce that our Harrogate Post Procedure Patient Innovation (HaPPi) project had won the ‘Supporting Elective Recovery through Digital’ category at the HSJ Digital Awards 2024, recognising excellence in digitising, connecting, and transforming health and care.
HaPPi was developed out of a desire to transform day case surgery for patients through personalised post surgery video reports. Historically, patients who had a day procedure, were given information from their surgeon on the outcome of the procedure, along with advice and information in the recovery room. Coming round from anaesthesia, means that 40 – 80% of medical information is forgotten immediately and half of the information that is remembered is incorrect. Following discharge, patients frequently called the ward or other support services for further information, or asked for a return appointment to clarify their route through recovery.
By providing personalised videos, recorded by the patients’ surgeon, whilst the patient is still in post-procedure recovery, the HaPPi project has transformed patient communication. HaPPi gives patients the information they need at a time of their choice, as they can watch the videos as many times as they want, and helps reduce the demand on services at the hospital, meaning that clinical time can be repurposed. The videos are securely delivered to our patients using our patient portal, Patients Know Best.
The ‘Supporting Elective Recovery through Digital’ award recognises teams who are developing and leveraging digital to reduce the elective backlog. This includes digital projects, solutions and services that are driving tangible improvements in patient waiting times, experience, and outcomes, and that display solid evidence of co-production with clinical colleagues. The judges felt that the HaPPi pathway fully met this criteria and the Trust is delighted that the project has been recognised through this award.
The HSJ Digital Awards are fast becoming an opportunity to recognise and applaud the power of digital products, projects and services to transform care delivery, enhance efficiency, and improve patient outcomes.
There were 343 entries within 23 categories and winners were announced during a ceremony held at Manchester Central on 6 June 2024. The highly competitive judging process strives to ensure that the most effective digital innovations can be ‘celebrated, scaled and spread’, and provide both a short and long-term springboard for adoption and roll out of successful initiatives.
The expert assessment panel comprised a diverse range of highly regarded figures across the NHS and the wider healthcare sector stemming from clinical, leadership and digital roles.
“We are so proud to be selected the winners of this HSJ Digital award and to showcase this innovation implemented at HDFT, and the positive impact HaPPI’s digital personalised videos pathway has had on communication and patient care. We are looking forward to increasing this offering at HDFT and across the region, and embedding lasting cultural change in how we communicate with patients after day surgery,” said Mr David Duffy, innovator of HaPPi and Consultant in Orthopaedics at Harrogate District Hospital.
Categories cover many aspects of the health and social care sector, demonstrating how digital initiatives can help to improve ‘hard to tackle’ issues such as reducing inequalities; improving mental health through digital services; assisting with the ongoing move to net zero and enhancing workforce engagement, productivity, and wellbeing.
HSJ editor Alastair McLellan adds: “Following such a successful launch last year, it really is great to be back, recognising and celebrating the achievements of so many digital innovators within our health and social care sector. It’s amazing to see that the level of interest and engagement in these relatively new awards is continuing to grow – which demonstrates the commitment and enthusiasm from so many experts and leaders working in this field.
“Digital services and tech innovation remains firmly at the heart of the ongoing evolution of the NHS and I hope that this specific awards programme will help to focus the minds of decision makers and the wider workforce on the real value of digital within organisations, potentially aiding future investment.”
Alastair McLellan adds “Once again, the quality of entries in the 2024 HSJ Digital Awards was outstanding, presenting our panel of judges with some tough choices and deliberation! It therefore gives me great pleasure to congratulate HDFT’s HaPPi project team as winners in the category of Supporting Elective Recovery through Digital at the 2024 HSJ Digital Awards.
“Well done HDFT for the part you’re playing in helping to ‘switch up’ the conversation around the current digital agenda and for taking the opportunity to benchmark your own successes against the country’s leading NHS and digital health sector organisations and projects.”
The winners were selected following a rigorous two-stage judging process by a group of 93 judges ahead of the HSJ Digital Awards 2024 ceremony.