LIMERICK tech company YellowSchedule have scooped one of the top awards at HealthTech Ireland’s annual Health Technology Innovation Awards.
Founded by siblings Martina and Michael Skelly in 2011, YellowSchedule has developed a visitor scheduling platform which provides a secure way for family members to book visits to hospitals and care facilities. They can be pre-screened for Covid-19 on the morning of their visit to receive a barcode to enable fast track entry at the facility.
Originally from Dublin, Martina (47) was awarded Vodafone Start-up Awards ‘Businesswoman of the Year’ in 2013 and was one of the top 100 women in STEM in Ireland by Silicon Republic in 2014.
YellowSchedule took home an award for ‘Best Healthcare Innovation piloted in an Irish Healthcare setting’ at this year’s Health Technology Innovation Awards.
A 2019 study by the Royal Voluntary Service in the UK found that a lack of visitors had a detrimental effect on patients’ health and speed of recovery in several ways. Patients without visitors were 43 per cent less likely to be mobile, less likely to follow medical advice and 37 per cent had a longer stay in hospital.
YellowSchedule, in close conjunction with the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, created a new solution to manage and streamline visitor management.
This solution manages the self-scheduling of visits by nominated visitors, ward capacity management to enable social distancing, Covid-19 screening questionnaires and visitor check-in. The digital solution works in the background and automates the task of visitor management and contact tracing.
Additionally with new requirements for hospital visitors to present valid covid certificates, YellowSchedule’s current system can manage the verification process for hospitals.
“We are thrilled to receive recognition for our solution.
“Hospitals are a controlled environment and we give our clients visibility and control of the visitors to ensure that they can keep their patients and staff safe ,” Martina Skelly said of their win.
“Feedback has been that our solution is extremely easy to use for patients, staff and visitors alike, and makes the visiting process easy and equitable,” she explained.
