Why run a technology trial

Running a trial is a way to test which existing technologies can be utilised to deliver better health outcomes and has many advantages over a full-scale deployment:

The focus of a trial should be on feasibility and exploration of a new use case or technology. If the technology trialled is successful, then the trialist organisation knows to proceed with a larger rollout when possible. Conversely, if the technology does not meet requirements for any reason, the knowledge, lessons learned, and experience gained will often offset the lower cost of a trial.

The wireless trials usually involves a smaller scale deployment, allowing a trialist organisation to gauge the suitability of a new technology with reduced risk and costs compared to a full-scale implementation. With less resource commitment and a reduced reliance on the solution, the impact of setbacks and difficulties encountered are reduced, whilst successes and lessons learned can be taken forward to inform a full implementation or other projects.

If staff have raised connectivity challenges that impact their ways of working, or quality of patient care, then a trial could be the right mechanism to investigate and compare possible solutions on a smaller and focussed scale. As trials are often faster to deploy than a full rollout, running a trial can be an effective and agile way to show staff that their requests are being responded to and their voices heard.

Running these wireless trials allowed the organisations to focus on defining and tracking the positive impacts of the new technology in question. By doing this, a trialist organisation could determine the practical return on investment and utilise this information as a part of a wider business strategy to justify a wider deployment.

The lessons learned from a trial can inform future roll outs, even if a decision is made to not go ahead with the technology in question. Trials can help support better decision making about similar projects, informing the project and technical teams involved in developing and implementing the trial. As well as teams that use the new technology and potentially adapted their ways of working to use it effectively. The deployment process can also be an opportunity to upskill staff both from learning about new technology and experiencing the implementation and changes required for use and potentially inspire new ideas or applications of the technology.

As new technologies emerge, unlocking new and better ways of working, it is in the best interest of NHS organisations that undertook trials of new technology to document and share their findings with the wider system.