Warwickshire Wheelchair Service referral screening with AI virtual assistant
With an ageing population, the need for wheelchair services is on the rise. There are about 3000 wheelchair services users across Warwickshire, with an average of about 130 referrals into the service per month. NHS England expect wheelchair provision within 18 weeks of referral; however, it can take up to 13 weeks for an individual just to be triaged, making it impossible to reach expected targets. In the meantime, patients face discomfort, deterioration and inability to live a full life.
The opportunity
The Warwickshire Wheelchair Service (WWS) approached the Digital Hub for help to find a chatbot-type solution, that would reach their 48-hour referral screening targets and release clinicians, who would normally be screening referrals three days a week, back into the field. This would also mean that clients could be prioritised quicker and more consistently, offering a higher quality service and a better client experience.
What we did
After exploring several suppliers, over a number of months, the Digital Hub supported the WWS to pilot the use of a virtual clinical assistant called LOLA. LOLA calls clients on the telephone to have a conversation with them based on a pre-defined clinical protocol. The outcome of the conversations are viewed by clinicians via an online platform, who then decide how to proceed with the individuals case.
The pilot, which began in mid-November 2023, lasted three-and-a-half months and yielded some great results.
Pilot outcomes
The outcomes
Using LOLA, the average waiting time for screening referrals has decreased from 25 working days to just one, with the longest wait decreasing from 13 weeks to also one working day. Furthermore, as the screening has become considerably quicker, this has allowed the allocation of clients to their relevant pathways much faster, which has in turn meant that the length of pathways (from receipt of referral to the closing of the case) has also decreased considerably. For example, the medium assessment pathway, which makes up 33% of the Service’s activity, has decreased from 35 to 8 weeks on average, whilst those who are not eligible for a wheelchair from the Service are informed within a week, rather than 8 weeks.
As a result of the introduction of the technology, the waiting list for an appointment has also decreased by 50% since November 2023, when LOLA was first introduced. The Service are identifying different pathways faster and as a result managing cases much quicker. The amount of time spent screening referrals by a member of staff has also decreased from three days to two, with the potential to reduce this further.
Other benefits include:
Screening conversations with clients are now standardised
The right person is doing the right thing at the right time
Improved morale amongst team members, dealing with referrals is no longer an endless and daunting task
What do clients think?
“LOLA was very good, best AI/computer conversation I’ve used so far. Not having to keep repeating myself was great. The call from LOLA was within a few hours of referral and had a much shorter waiting time than previous which was weeks long.”
— Warwickshire Wheelchair Service client
Gathering client feedback on their experience of speaking to LOLA has been a major focal point of the project. As an artificial intelligence based technology, LOLA can to be trained by humans, improving her capabilities and ultimately becoming “more experienced” in conversations she is having whilst following a protocol. This meant, that clients experience of speaking to LOLA has improved over time. At the end of the pilot, from the clients who agreed to provide feedback:
80% rated their experience of speaking to LOLA good or excellent
Only 13% felt they couldn’t communicate their needs effectively to LOLA
92% felt comfortable and no-one felt uncomfortable speaking with LOLA again
What next?
The use of LOLA has now become business as usual (BAU) for the Warwickshire Wheelchair Service. They continue to work with the supplier to progress LOLA’s skills and to put improvements in place that will further increase staffs’ and clients’ experience of the technology.
The Digital Hub are promoting the technology to other departments across the member Trusts of the Foundation Group. LOLA was initially created as a healthcare remote monitoring tool and therefore has the potential to work across countless departments and pathways.
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