Digital Hub completes its first pilot with Warwickshire Wheelchair Service

We are extremely proud to share that we have completed our first full pilot project with the Warwickshire Wheelchair Service, using an AI voice-based virtual clinical assistant for referral screening with some fantastic outcomes!

After months of looking for the right piece of technology, followed by months of preparation, we have completed a three-and-a-half month long proof of concept to automate the referral screening of the Warwickshire Wheelchair Service.

The AI voice-based virtual clinical assistant screens referrals based on clinical protocols that were previously agreed. The outcomes are assessed by clinicians via a dashboard and a decision made on how to proceed with the referral.

The effect on the average screening time was almost immediate lowering it down from an average of five-weeks to just one day. However, by being able to categorise the referrals much faster, the waiting list for appointments has also decreased by 50% within the first 10 months of the introducing the technology. Furthermore, the length of some pathways have also decreased considerably, such as the medium assessment pathway (which makes up 33% of the Services activities), which was shorted from an average of 35 to just 8 weeks.

Client feedback on speaking to the clinical assistant has also been positive, with 80% reporting a good or excellent experience, whilst the speed of referral screening time has exceeded expectations.

The new technology has now become Business As Usual (BAU) for the Service.

To read about the proof of concept in more detail or download a summary of our final report, take a look at the project page.