PDAs to fight war on hospital wear and tear

The time taken to carry out vital repair and maintenance work at a UK hospital has been slashed by the use of new mobile technology.

The team of 26 workmen in the Operational Support Services Maintenance Department at Bedford Hospital can record instant updates on jobs using PDAs that communicate via a GPRS network.

Repairs manager Peter Hurst said the system has shaved vital minutes off the time it takes to manage jobs and keep hospital equipment and facilities running smoothly.

The system replaces the old method of creating three paper dockets per job and bringing job notes back to the office - saving the Bedford Hospital NHS Trust money and time, while also cutting down on lost paperwork.

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The PDA system, provided by mobile phone specialist Taap, can handle a number of jobs and prioritises them depending on their urgency - all managed and controlled by the maintenance management team using Mindworks software.

It manages information on the job details, location and contacts and can read digital signatures in order to sign off the job or request spare parts.

If the tradesman forgets to record any information he will be prompted to do so by the PDA.

It also offers supervisors real-time updates on the daily workload of the team, making allocating jobs equally easier.

The licence for the system costs the Trust about £6,000-a-year, with an additional charge for the rental of the PDAs.

Hurst told silicon.com: "It is so much quicker, now jobs are being done almost as quickly as they are sent out, a workman can be on his way to a job within five minutes of it coming in.

"We sometimes have to deal with potentially life threatening issues, the repairs and maintenance department is key to keeping any hospital operational and the PDA system allows us to work more efficiently and raise satisfaction levels, while reducing costs."

He added: "Now everybody knows instantly what each other is doing and what they are supposed to be doing, it really is a very good piece of work."