Interview With Alder Hey Children’s Hospital: Matthew Wood, Digital Project Coordinator

Welcome to another Dakota Customer Interview.

This time we had the pleasure of speaking with Matthew Wood, Digital Project Coordinator at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, to find out how Dakota has worked with him and his Team to implement a neo-natal wristband solution.

For over 100 years, Alder Hey has been renowned for providing innovative, high-quality care. One of the largest and busiest children’s hospitals in Europe, Alder Hey looks after approximately 330,000 children, young people and their families every year, treating everything from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions. A Centre of Excellence for cancer as well as spinal, heart and brain conditions, Alder Hey is home to a variety of pioneering, live-saving technologies and is a World Health Organisation-accredited health-promoting hospital.

Read on to find out more.
Enjoy!

1. What are your main areas of responsibility within Alder Hey?

My main areas of responsibility within the hospital are managing small-scale IT projects as well as supporting the delivery of more wide-scale projects including digital healthcare programmes. We are also currently working towards achieving our HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Level 7 Certificate for Digital Maturity. 

2. How long have you been a Dakota customer?

We have been a Dakota customer for around 10 years.

3. How did you first come into contact with Dakota?

We initially met Dakota at a healthcare technology event almost a decade ago and have worked with them ever since. 

4. Which products are you currently purchasing from Dakota?

For our neo-natal wristband solution, we are using Zebra ZD420 direct thermal desktop printers and Zebra Fusion wristbands with ComfyCuff. 

5. How are the products used within your facility?

The wristbands are used within our neo-natal wards to facilitate patient identification and to also help us keep track of medicine administration for individual patients.

6. What have been the main benefits you have experienced or achieved as a result of your Dakota product solution?

The new solution has provided numerous benefits. First and foremost, we have achieved even higher levels of safety in terms of correct patient identification. We also have a very clear record of what drugs have been administered to a patient, when they were administered and by whom. The wristbands are also longer lasting than our previous solution and the barcodes printed on them remain visible for the duration of the patient’s stay in hospital. The ComfyCuff addition to the wristbands is also very gentle on sensitive skin, making them more comfortable for the very youngest patients in our care.