Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
The emergency departments at Charing Cross Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital were early adopters of Joos and highlighted how the service reduces pressure on staff, improves patient experience and level of care, while enhancing general safety.
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is based in London, England. It is one of the largest NHS trusts in England, currently managing five
hospitals including Charing Cross Hospital; and St Mary’s Hospital.
Challenges
The emergency departments at Charing Cross Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital were early adopters of Joos and highlighted how the service reduces pressure on staff, improves patient experience and level of care, while enhancing general safety.
- Multiple times daily, staff are faced with frustrated and abusive patients who find themselves disconnected from friends & family as their phone batteries run low, without a solution available.
- Some staff would go against the Trust’s policy, discretely charging patient’s phones behind their desk.
- A ‘near miss fire incident’ occurred when a patient plugged an uncertified wall charger into a power outlet in A&E resulting in the charger combusting and causing smoke.
- The solution could not introduce new responsibilities for clinical, admin or facilities staff.
What Joos Offers
Joos offers hospitals two service models:
- Provide patients with a cost-free period to rent a portable charger (power bank) or,
- As preferred by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, a Charitable Giving Scheme free of any upfront and ongoing costs
How it works:
- Patients rent a power bank, dispensed automatically from Joos charging stations. Three short cables are integrated into each power bank supporting every mobile phone.
- Patients enter their payment details through Apple/Google pay. They pay a small fee to rent a power bank and are billed when they return it to a Joos charging station.
- If they don’t return the power bank, after a few days patients will be billed the price to buy the power bank and can keep it permanently.
- Joos works with each ED service manager to qualify sufficient space, a standard power socket and mobile phone signal were available.
- Charging stations were allocated around the ED departments, conveniently accessible for adults and children in the waiting rooms and SDEC.
- Within one-month Joos’ in-house team delivered and set up the charging stands and provided wall poster patient messaging.
- Staff received a demonstration how patients would use the self-service charging stations, and how Joos would proactively
maintain going forward without the need for hospital staff to monitor or make contact.
Outstanding Results
The implementation of Joos power banks has had a significant positive impact at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, resulting in:
- 500 emergency patients rented power banks in the first five weeks
- Annual projections:
- 5,500 patients & visitors are anticipated to grab a power bank – removing thousands of potentially abusive
confrontations for staff - Over £1,500 to be paid to the Trust’s fund through Joos’ Charitable Giving Scheme
- The Trust has since added five more Joos charging stations, expanding the service to help thousands more patients, visitors and staff
- 60+ NHS major hospitals have followed ICHFT to launch Joos for patients and visitors