Saving clinicians at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight hours on CHC assessments

Continuing Healthcare (CHC) assessments involve long conversations, hours spent collecting evidence, and even longer writing up the Decision Support Tool (DST). 

NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight wanted to find a way to speed up the process and give clinicians time back to focus on patients. 

So, they ran an 8-week pilot of Notes to see if it could take some of the load off.

The challenge

More time on paperwork than with patients

The CHC assessment process was largely manual. Clinicians were spending a long time searching across multiple systems to collect and review evidence. They were taking notes during multidisciplinary (MDT) meetings and writing the summaries themselves. 

This was taking up large parts of their day, and the cognitive load of processing all of the information added pressure to already stretched teams. 

Risks to quality and consistency 

Clinicians were often relying on memory and manual note-taking during meetings, which meant important details were sometimes missed. 

Also, the way evidence was recorded varied between individuals and across the team, which made documents harder to review and increased the risk of gaps in the DST.

Divided attention 

Clinicians were typing notes during appointments and multidisciplinary meetings to capture the relevant information for the assessments. This made it hard to be present in conversations with patients and colleagues. 

Some patients felt that clinicians were more focused on screens than on listening and engaging with them. For a team committed to person-centred care, this was frustrating and not how they wanted to work.

The approach

Six clinicians ran an 8-week pilot of Notes to support the completion of 96 DSTs.

Notes fit into the team’s existing workflow, supporting each stage of the assessment process.

Ahead of the MDT meeting, clinicians used Notes to gather and review evidence. By uploading care records, clinical notes, and supporting documents, they were able to generate a draft DST, giving them a clearer starting point before the discussion began.

During the meeting itself, Notes securely recorded the discussion and produced a transcript that mapped relevant information to the specific DST domains (e.g. Behaviour, Mobility, and Cognition). 

After the meeting, the tool brought everything together, combining the pre-meeting evidence with the live discussion into a single standardised document, ready for review and submission.

The impact 

Time savings

The time spent gathering and reviewing evidence ahead of meetings reduced by 51%, and the MDT write-up process was 68% faster. 

Overall, clinicians completed DST assessments 55% faster from start to finish, saving an average of 112 minutes per assessment. That time was then reinvested in providing quality patient care. 

More accurate documentation

Clinicians and nurses reported a noticeable improvement in the quality and accuracy of their documentation. They also valued how information from meetings and notes automatically mapped to the relevant DST domains.

As one nurse shared:

“It is so clever what it picks up and how it places the information in all of the relevant domains, not just the one you are talking about…”

Better conversations with patients 

With Notes capturing the details, they no longer needed to type notes in appointments. This meant they could be more present, maintain eye contact, and engage with patients, families, and colleagues.

As one clinician put it:

“I love that I can relax and not spend my whole time in MDT trying to give people eye contact, typing people’s comments and trying to keep people's discussions in order…”

A better experience for clinicians 

With less time spent on paperwork and more time for clinical work, 100% of the pilot group said they enjoyed their role more. 

Several also reported improvements in their wellbeing, as the reduction in admin eased some of the mental load associated with completing DSTs.

Give your clinicians more time for patient care

The pilot showed that the admin burden of CHC assessments can be reduced without compromising quality or clinical judgement. 

The results also highlight the potential impact at scale. The wider team completes around 1,500 DST assessments each year. If similar savings were achieved across all assessments, they could save approximately 4,500 hours annually, delivering an estimated £135,000 in cost savings and a 1.25× return on investment. 

Book a demo to see how Notes could give your team more time for patient care.