COLUMN: Tool will help the sickest patients

As a move to embrace digital technology, we’ve started rolling out electronic whiteboards across the trust.

Wards can electronically record observations with an easy-to-manage electronic visual display.

The e-whiteboard shows bed occupancy, meaning patients can be dealt with more quickly. When patients move, their information also moves to the e-whiteboard.

The whiteboard will soon show each patient’s early warning score, a tool which monitors the severity of patients’ conditions using hand held devices, automatically updating the whiteboard. It will help us manager the sickest patients better.

The boards have been implemented in clinical areas at Pilgrim Hospital and are being introduced at Grantham. By July 2017, all wards and theatres will have these in place.

We’ve got some interesting moustaches being grown here at ULHT, with the hope of raising money and awareness for men’s health as part of the Movember campaign.

The most common cancer found in men is prostate cancer, with 40,000 new cases diagnosed ever year.

Prostate cancer usually doesn’t cause any symptoms until it’s large enough to put pressure on your urethra.

As the prostate gets larger, you may notice an increased need to urinate, straining while urinating and a feeling that your bladder has not emptied.

These symptoms should not be ignored, especially if you are over 50.

Dr Suneil Kapadia is the medical director of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.