Barts Health using innovative QR code technology to monitor training attendance
Barts Health NHS Trust is implementing the Class Attendance Tracker (CAT) system across its five hospitals as part of its digitisation journey and is pioneering the use of QR code technology to monitor training attendance.
The majority of QR code solutions available point the user to a website for them to complete a form on a website, but the technology used by Barts Health tracks attendance instantly and provides the governance compliance the Trust requires in real-time.
17,000 staff employed at the Trust as well as thousands more agency workers, contractors and students will use CAT when attending their training sessions and events.
CAT is a simple paperless solution that uses QR codes and attendees’ mobile phones to record attendance at face-to-face and virtual training events. By using the CAT solution, classroom and event organisers can avoid inefficient processes using paper registers and roll calls or investing in expensive infrastructure such as card-reading technology.
Traditional QR code solutions typically requires the event organiser scanning each attendee’s personal QR code, whereas the CAT solution flips this concept on its head and the attendee scans a single event QR code to record their attendance.
Employers and event organisers benefit from accurate, real-time attendance tracking with minimal administration, while attendees also benefit with the certainty that their attendance is recorded and the ability to view real-time attendance history on their mobile phone.
Barts Health Education Academy shared this digital innovation with NHS Nightingale Hospital London, which is run by the Trust.
While the hospital was open, 1,693 people used the CATQR mobile app for their education and training at the ExCel, with 13,374 scans recorded automatically and reported in real-time using CAT. This represents on average one person attending nearly 8 training sessions.
Anthony Dowding, Head of Training Resources and Development at Barts Health, said: “The Trust is a digital innovator in the use of QR code technology to monitor education and training attendance.
“It’s great to see the reaction of staff when they use the CATQR mobile app and realise how simple it is to record their attendance – just by scanning a class QR code.
“Our administrators love it because there is no more manual data entry to deal with, doing away with all the headaches that come with paper registers. At NHS Nightingale Hospital London, CAT provided instant information on which staff had rotated through the classes meaning we could track those who had not attended before they left the building.”