Psychiatry doctors in training at North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) now have a wealth of guidance at their fingertips with the help of a new DOCS App developed by the trust’s medical education department.

Dr Peter Carter, NELFT Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Tom Stockman, NELFT Fellow in Medical Education, and Dr Mohan Bhat, NELFT Director of Medical Education, who lead the training for doctors, and psychiatry junior doctors developed the concept for the NELFT DOCS - Doctors On Call Support – App.

The NELFT DOCS App was developed in partnership with students from Barking & Dagenham College where its IT students were commissioned to provide the technical platform.

The NELFT DOCS App, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, replaces hundreds of pages of online guidance documents, including policies and procedures which are stored on the NELFT intranet and internet.

The NELFT DOCS App works without internet connection and has features to ensure policies, procedures and guidelines are always kept up-to-date.

The technology platform that enables the NELFT DOCS App to work on smart phones and tablets was built by two IT students at Barking & Dagenham College.

Essential guidance documents can be viewed via the platform, all within a few clicks on the intuitively-designed menu system.

The NELFT DOCS App is quickly becoming an essential resource that mental health doctors across NELFT and junior psychiatry doctors in training are returning to again and again.

Dr Peter Carter, who is based on the Goodmayes Hospital site in Ilford, Redbridge, said: “Finding approved treatment and care policies and guidance was sometimes a challenge for junior doctors in psychiatry, particularly when they are on call or in A&E departments when they may need the information quickly.

“Using a user-centred design approach, we worked with our doctors and nursing staff to better understand the issues with the existing system and how they access policies and guidelines

“Our new NELFT DOCS app works differently - enabling users to search for the policies and guidance as well as on call contact telephone numbers and other useful information all in one place that can be stored on their mobile telephones or on their tablets. The time this saves could be critical, particularly if they are in hospital settings which sometimes do not have full internet connections.”

This project has been supported by Barking & Dagenham College, where students developed and built the technical platform that enables the NELFT DOCS App to work.

Students Mark Bewes, 26, from Dagenham, and Sam Bowen, 26, from Rainham, are studying an Access to IT course at Barking & Dagenham College were delighted to help NELFT with the project.

Mark said: “It has been a rewarding project. The NELFT DOCS App is the first of its kind and has a valuable purpose. Giving students exposure to real client briefs is what makes the Barking & Dagenham College experience so different. This project has helped me develop both my technical and employability skills.”

The NELFT DOCS app was officially launched on Wednesday February 4 to coincide with the new cohort of trainee psychiatry doctors starting with the organisation.

Dr Mohan Bhat, who has been leading the initiative for NELFT, said: “This is just one measure NELFT is using to ensuring that junior doctors in psychiatry follow the correct clinical procedures and guidelines, and they have easy access to them. The new DOCS App will also be a useful tool in NELFT’s training programme for our psychiatry doctors.”

NELFT psychiatry trainee, Dr Ramneek Singh Gosal, NELFT Junior Doctor Representative, who has been trialing the DOCs App says: "As a busy doctor or psychiatry junior doctor, the ability to access accurate clinical guidelines, procedures and policies on the move should improve patient safety and time efficiency.”

“When on call, or on a ward round, I find myself increasingly using my smart phone to access the NELFT website or NELFT intranet, so this new DOCs App is a welcome resource.”

“This is a great example of embracing modern technology to make it easier for doctors to use during their training, and as an easy reference guide when they are trained.”

Dr Ramneek Singh Gosal added: “Being on-call in a new specialty and in a new place can be daunting. The NELFT DOCS App provides instant information for the on-call doctor.

“I have already used the NELFT DOC App on numerous occasions having changed my on-call duties last month. It is very easy to use and extremely helpful when coming across new scenarios.”

The Barking & Dagenham College students were mentored by Ellen Kerr, Manager of 2Fix Solutions at Barking & Dagenham College. 2Fix Solutions is an IT business and shop which gives students real work commissions. Ellen said: “This is our first project for NELFT and it is typical of the type of work our students get access to.”

Wijay Pitumpe, Chief Finance and Enterprise Officer at Barking and Dagenham, added: “Creating opportunities for our students to work on real client projects is a vital part of the experience we offer, across every subject area. In the digital creative sector our reputation for developing effective technical solutions, like this NELFT DOCS App, is growing and we look forward to working with the Trust again in the future.”