Thoughtonomy to Host NHS Shared Marketplace Giving NHS Trusts Free Access to Proven Process Automations

New marketplace allows NHS Trusts to collaborate on process automations and quickly reap the benefits of existing automation programmes across the NHS, freeing up staff time to deliver improved patient care 

Growing demand for Intelligent Automation, as Thoughtonomy announces new deployments with Moorfields Eye Hospital; Cambridge University Hospitals, North Midlands Hospitals; Great Western Hospitals; King's College Hospital, London

LONDON, Oct. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Thoughtonomy, the leading Intelligent Automation platform provider, is today launching a new shared marketplace for the NHS which will allow NHS Trusts free access to existing process automations which have been built and are now being successfully deployed within other Trusts.   

The initiative will leverage Thoughtonomy's cloud-based platform, enabling NHS Trusts to  scale their automation strategies in a fast and secure way, and to accelerate the positive impact on both patient care and staff time and capacity.

The driving force behind the new marketplace is Darren Atkins, Chief Technology Officer (Artificial Intelligence & Automation) at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), who has recognised how the groundbreaking automation work being carried out at ESNEFT and other innovation-driven Trusts could deliver similar benefits if deployed more widely across the NHS. Atkins chose to collaborate with Thoughtonomy on developing the marketplace, based on Thoughtonomy's ongoing automation work with ESNEFT and other Trusts, and its expertise within the NHS.

All content on the marketplace is developed and owned by the NHS, and its use is strictly restricted to NHS bodies.

Darren Atkins said: "The release of Thoughtonomy's NHS marketplace realises my ambition of collaborating with healthcare partners across the UK. By sharing our learning and jointly working on automations to satisfy a common goal, we are able to release time for our clinical and corporate staff faster, more efficiently and at a reduced cost. All the processes and objects freely shared in the platform belong to the NHS and may only be used by healthcare organisations for no commercial gain."

The automations, relating to both front and back-office processes, can be used by other NHS Trusts either in whole or part to speed up the deployment process without the need to start designing and building from scratch. It means that Trusts can quickly and easily begin reaping the benefits of digital labour alongside their existing workforce. It is the first time that NHS Trusts will be able to share automations in this way and Thoughtonomy has designed the marketplace to drive greater collaboration between Trusts and increase benefits across the NHS.

The first automation available on the platform relates to GP referrals, using digital labour to reduce the time taken to process the first stage of each GP referral. The automation, which was initially built by the team at ESNEFT, dramatically reduces the amount of time that medical secretaries have to spend processing paperwork and uploading data between different IT systems when dealing with GP referrals. ESNEFT released more than 500 hours of medical secretaries' time within three months of implementing the automation and saved £220,000 in associated direct costs.

Through the shared platform, NHS Trusts will now be able to take advantage of the work that ESNEFT and other innovative Trusts have already done in driving efficiencies through Intelligent Automation. By automating a wide range of time-intensive, repetitive tasks, Trusts can unburden their staff from routine, time-consuming administrative tasks and allow them to focus on delivering high quality patient care.

Atkins expects to build up the number of reusable process automations quickly. Target proceses which are being prepared by ESNEFT and other participating Trusts include:

• Patient Reminder – the ability to receive patient cancellations from a text reminder service and automatically cancel the appointment on PAS
• GP Referrals – the automation of the Accept Referrals function
• Invoicing – an OCR engine that automatically extracts information from NHS invoices for uploading into Integra AP
• Cardio-Respiratory – the processing of referrals and the auto-creation of diagnostic tests

The platform includes a wide range of automations, already customized to access common NHS systems, including System C Medway, Kainos Evolve, Electronic Referral System ERS, Lorenzo and ESR, SystmOne and EMIS Web.

The new markeplace comes on the back of rapidly increased demand for Intelligent Automation from across the NHS and a recognition that the work that has already been done in driving efficiencies and freeing up vital staff capacity could and should be put to good use elsewhere in the NHS.

Thoughtonomy has recently signed new contracts with Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals (including Addenbrooke's Hospital), The University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Patrick Shepherd, UK Healthcare Leader at Thoughtonomy, said: "The shared marketplace is a great example of how NHS Trusts can work together to drive efficiencies, protect and support front-line staff and improve patient care through Intelligent Automation. We're delighted to support and facilitate this initiative. We've already seen how the fantastic automation work being done in one Trust can easily be applied elsewhere to deliver game-changing results to staff and patients at other Trusts. We hope that this becomes the foundation for allowing highly engaged Trusts to share, collaborate and inspire each other. It is in everyone's interests to see them realise the enormous benefits that Intelligent Automation can deliver, in particular addressing and overcoming many of the major budgetary and skills-related challenges facing the NHS today."

Thoughtonomy enables organisations to enhance the productivity of their workforce through the intelligent automation and digitisation of knowledge work. It uses AI and robotic process automation software to emulate how people work, allowing healthcare providers to add flexible resources to their team without disruption and delivering rapid ROI.

About Thoughtonomy

Thoughtonomy, a Blue Prism company, delivers artificial intelligence (AI) driven intelligent automation platform that enables organizations and the people they employ to do more and achieve more.  A leading provider of intelligent, cloud-based automation, the company's award-winning Software as a Service (SaaS) platform gives companies access to a pool of cloud based intelligent digital workers that can perform the repetitive, time-intensive tasks that slow people down. By integrating this digital workforce with their human teams, companies can accelerate growth and achieve a step change in efficiency. Thoughtonomy has grown at a rapid rate since being founded in 2013, with more than 200 customers using its platform in 29 countries spread across four continents.  In 2019, Blue Prism acquired Thoughtonomy, to add the SaaS offering into its wider Connected-RPA portfolio.  Visit www.thoughtonomy.com to learn more.

For further information, please see http://thoughtonomy.com/