SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES: Students point the right direction for Yeovil Hospital

PATIENTS, staff and visitors will soon be able to find their way around Yeovil District Hospital more easily - thanks to an app designed by IT students at Yeovil College.

The hospital approached the college in the autumn asking for help with an information app, aimed at giving patients and visitors easy access to useful info like opening hours and where to find different departments.

The hospital then briefed the students about what they wanted from the app, working with them over several months to develop and hone 12 initial suggestions into three working prototypes.  These were recently presented to staff and will be tested soon.

BTEC extended diploma student Max Baker, 18, of Yeovil, said: “When the project started, it was only supposed to be theoretical, but the hospital were so pleased with what we did that they asked us to do the app too and it became our project.

“Being involved with this was pretty good.  It’s going to stand out on my CV because it could be implemented.  This project was really interesting and doing it made me realise app design is something I wanted to do as a career.”

Student Simon Greenman, of Yeovil, also worked on the project. “I was absolutely terrified at first,” he said.

“I doubted I could do it because of the intricacies attached to designing an app, but it’s good to do something that you’ve never done before.  The project turned out to be a lot of fun and I’ve definitely gained more confidence.  It’s a really useful project to put on your CV and I’ve gained some valuable experience.”

Tony Smith, IT lead and consultant anaesthetist at Yeovil Hospital, led the project on behalf of the hospital.

He said: “We are really pleased with the result of this project and it has been a pleasure to work in partnership with Yeovil College and harness their expertise.

“The app will have significant benefits for visitors to the hospital as it provides such up-to-date, accurate information about the internal layout.”

IT Lecturer Rob Wood said “Working with the hospital has been a fantastic opportunity for the students.

“They’ve used it as work experience and been able to gain a range of useful employability skills.”

PHOTO – TOP: The students with representatives of Yeovil District Hospital, left to right, are Oliver Playden, 19, of Blandford Forum; Max Baker, 19, of Yeovil; Dan Gibbons, 19, of Yeovil; Simon Greenham, 52, of Yeovil; clinical lead for the electronic health record department at Yeovil Hospital, Becky Garnett; Dan Edmed, 25, of Templecombe; Dan Huntley, 19, of Yeovil; Ashley Hadlow, 19, of Shaftesbury; Yeovil College curriculum area manager for IT, Rob Wood; and Tony Smith, IT lead and consultant anaesthetist at Yeovil Hospital.

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