Helping Hertfordshire County Council improve service for vulnerable adults
At Hertfordshire Council Council, Occupational Therapists at the Council used to have to create and send off 3 copies of every equipment order that they did, including faxing a copy to Finance and providing the client with a copy. 1 in 3 faxed forms had to be sent back to the Occupational Therapist as they were illegible due to the way the fax machine copied the image.
Digital Pens were implemented, with automated emailing on receipt of an electronic assessment to the relevant parties and the original paper copy left with the client. The benefits are such that now very few forms are having to be sent back to Finance, the teams are much more up to date with the latest assessments, there has been a 66% reduction in paper forms needing to be filed, Occupational Therapists can be home based, and the turnaround time for assessment forms has dramatically improved from 7 days to 3 days. The implementation of Digital Pens for Occupational Therapists was so successful that they are now being implemented throughout Hertfordshire’s adult services.