The brief
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has 7000+ staff caring for more than 1.5m patients at its Royal Preston and Chorley & South Ribble Hospitals.
To maintain its high care standards, the Trust wanted to improve operational efficiency, internal communications, and reduce the potential for infections to spread in the hospitals. It also wanted to promote its health improvement initiatives, and reduce spend on recruitment advertising.
The solution
We consulted with key stakeholders within the Trust to understand its specific requirements, and formulated a multi-phase project plan.
We evaluated the people flow and dwell times of staff, visitors and patients in both hospitals to identify the best locations for signage to communicate messages as effectively as possible.
Admissions desks were an obvious location for signage because the areas were used by most visitors/patients entering the building, as were the hospitals’ waiting areas which had a captive audience. Furthermore, because the content would constantly be changing to show different hygiene, health promotion and recruitment messages, it would also serve as a distraction for patients/visitors/carers and reduce their perceived waiting times.
“Saturn did more than just identify where the most impactful locations for signage could be, they also identified where would be least effective and helped us understand why. They took time to understand how the Trust works and what our needs are, and all of their suggestions were calculated for our benefit.”
Christopher Leap, Digital Communication Officer, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Other locations subsequently identified as being optimum for signage were the research, X-Ray, radiotherapy departments and staff-only areas. We identified the best screen size and type for each situation. Bespoke screen enclosures were used for locations that required additional protection for screens or a branded colour.
Through using our SaturnVision software, we could create different suites of content to be shown in different areas, such as Trust news and hygiene best practice messages on screens in staff-only areas. The most important messages could also be prioritised by scheduling them to appear more frequently.
A key problem for the Trust’s staff was managing consultant time and room availability effectively, so we integrated their existing system with our software. This meant that screens could display room and/or consultant availability, making the information more easily accessible for staff.
Digital communication office Christopher Leap commented: “Saturn has helped guide us through this entire process and the team’s efficiency in managing the project as well as delivering it has been first class.
“The newly installed digital signage looks fantastic and we are already beginning to reap the rewards of our investment. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Saturn and growing our digital capabilities in the future.”
If you’d like to know more about the projects Saturn has delivered, simply get in touch with our team using the form at the bottom of this page, or use our contact us page.
