Case study · No. 04 · NHS Mersey care

Reaching patients and staff digitally.

MEDIO AV supports Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust in using digital screens to deliver timely information to staff and patients, with more than 100 screens installed and same-day fixes helping to keep the trust running smoothly.

Client

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Setting

Reception areas, waiting rooms & clinical wards

Solution

MEDIO AV

Reading time

3 min read

The challenge

Reach every ward, the moment guidance changes.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust faced an urgent communications challenge. Guidance was changing rapidly, and the Trust needed a way to reach not just desk-based staff, but clinical teams on wards who were not regularly using computers, and patients in waiting areas who needed clear and reassuring information about their care.

The Trust’s existing approach relied on printed posters. Every time guidance changed, staff had to physically replace signage across multiple sites. This was a time-consuming and resource-intensive process that could not keep pace with the speed at which information was changing. Mersey Care required a digital solution that would allow them to update messaging instantly.

The solution

Following a partnership established with MEDIO Powered by Involve in 2019 to install video conferencing systems in 10 meeting rooms across the Trust, MEDIO installed over 100 digital screens across Mersey Care’s sites.

These screens are located in public-facing spaces such as reception areas and waiting rooms, with a number placed in clinical environments including wards to reach frontline staff directly.

The solution gave the communications team centralised control of every screen through Now Signage software, with the ability to update content instantly and tailor messaging to ensure the right information reaches the right audience at the right time.

Screens across urgent treatment and walk-in centres now display live waiting times, reducing the volume of queries to reception staff and allowing them to focus on patients who need their attention most.

Content displayed across the network covers a broad range of communications needs, including:

Public health messaging
Seasonal flu vaccination campaigns
Data privacy assurance
CQC-related information and operational updates

Throughout the project, MEDIO Powered by Involve provided full installation, training and ongoing refresher training to ensure the communications team remained confident and self-sufficient in managing the platform.

Where technical issues do arise, the MEDIO Assist support team provides a same-day response, taking the burden off internal IT teams.

THE IMPACT

What once took hours of manual effort across multiple sites can now be done simply and easily from a single platform

When guidance changes, the Trust’s communications team can update every relevant screen instantly. This capability proved invaluable during the pandemic and continues to deliver operational value every day.

For patients, the screens provide the clear, consistent messaging they need to receive as part of their care. Clinical staff on wards receive timely, relevant information that would not otherwise reach people who spend their working day away from a desk.

Julie Crompton, Communications Team Manager at Mersey Care, said: “The installation went smoothly and to plan, and the MEDIO team dealt with any challenges from us well.”

“With the communications team holding centralised control of all messaging, there is a clear, accountable process for what is displayed, where, and when. This was something that simply wasn’t possible with printed materials, and it helps us keep in line with governance. We save over £400 on each poster set reprint, excluding staff time!”

Staff love the screens with many requests for messages and information to be displayed. The communications team find it easy to change the content on the screens, and the wider team find the information sharing useful. The support provided by the MEDIO Assist team is brilliant; they respond the same day and have provided great results in fixing any issues.
Julie crompton · Communications team manager,
MERSEY CARE nhs foundation trust

Solution in use

MEDIO AV.

End-to-end audio-visual environments for clinical rooms, MDT spaces, lecture theatres and boardrooms — specified, installed and supported by a team that knows the NHS.

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