Case Study: Birchwood Medical Practice

Birchwood Medical Centre in North Walsham, UK, serves a large and diverse patient population in rural North Norfolk, with a wide range of healthcare services delivered both in-practice and out in the community. With multiple teams working across different parts of the building, and staff often seeing patients one-to-one or completing home visits, keeping everyone safe was a top priority.

We spoke with Carly Everett, practice operations manager at Birchwood, to learn how Little Green Button helps protect their team and provide peace of mind in potentially high-risk situations.

The challenge

The biggest challenge that Birchwood Medical Practice was facing was that their current panic alarm, which is built into their clinical system, was not reliable enough nor could it raise an alert quick enough in an emergency.

“You have to be logged into our clinical system in order to press it,” Carly explained.

“A lot of the time you might not have the system open, your computer might be locked, and it’s also a job to find the actual panic button on there.

“We like the thought of having the Big Green Button where you can just press it in an emergency but you’ve also got the backup of it being on the screen as well.”

There was also no provision for nurses and doctors who go on home visits. 

“There was no protocol in place for them to press a button or raise an alert,” said Carly.

“So we like the fact that when they go on home visits, they’re protected by the mobile app.” 

The solution: A simple but reliable safety net

Little Green Button has given Birchwood a reliable, dynamic solution to their problems with relying on the clinical system for raising alerts. 

Staff at Birchwood were occasionally dealing with patient aggression at reception, and lone working was becoming more common. Clinicians, nurses and GPs often hold appointments alone, which can leave them vulnerable.

“Our mental health nurse works upstairs on her own, so it’s good for her to have an emergency button if she found herself in an emergency situation so that she can alert other members of staff that she needs assistance,” said Carly.

“She can press that button and all the clinicians will come and assist her as well as the staff upstairs who can help her too.” 

Birchwood implemented Little Green Button panic alarm software across their networked PCs, and introduced Big Green Buttons in key areas like the front desk for fast, physical access.

“There was an emergency situation on the front desk where a patient needed assistance. It was good for the reception team to have the physical button where they could just press that much quicker than they could on the screen.”

The results

The team at Birchwood now feel much more confident in their ability to manage emergencies, whether clinical or behavioural.

“It’s not just for patient emergencies like if they’re having breathing difficulties or going into anaphylaxis, it’s also for staff safety,” said Carly.

“If a patient comes in and they’re aggressive – it might not even be a patient, it could be any member of the public – if they’re a threat at any point, they’ve got that button there to press.”

Alerts are sent to the right team members thanks to Little Green Button’s groups and escalation paths, helping to avoid confusion and speed up response times.

“One of the most valuable features is being able to assign alerts to a group. If we have a medical situation, we can alert just the clinical team and the nursing team, as opposed to the whole practice having to come in.”

And with clear visual signals across all screens, the whole team knows exactly what’s happening, where, and when.

“The visual prompt is brilliant. It comes up bright red on whatever screen you’re using and it tells you exactly what room the alert’s been pressed in. 

“Then when it’s resolved or cancelled, it goes yellow, so you know that it’s over, but it will still stay on your screen so you know that an alert has happened.”

Little Green Button has helped Birchwood Medical Centre enhance safety across their team, both inside and outside the practice. Whether it’s defusing a tense situation at the front desk or ensuring lone workers can call for help in the community, the solution has proven to be an invaluable part of their day-to-day operations.