Device ‘Hark’ clinical task management application

Supported by NIHR Imperial BRC, Hark is a clinical task-management platform developed with the HELIX Centre and NIHR Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre. Over four years of research and development has supported the creation of Hark, with the underpinning research leading to over 10 peer-reviewed publications.
A notable design and software engineering team took on the specifications determined by the research and worked with end users in building Hark’s software.

Hark is a digital platform that prioritises who needs to do what, where and when across all aspects hospital life. Pilot studies at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHNT) show that compared to pagers and pen and paper, Hark improved information transfer within clinical teams in 22 out of 24 key areas.

Hark response times were 37% quicker compared to traditional pagers. This research has been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research – the world’s leading e-health journal.

Scaled up, we are confident that Hark can have a transformative impact on clinical outcomes and cost-effective healthcare delivery. The roll out of Hark across the five hospital sites at ICHNT has been approved and an implementation plan is in place. Furthermore, there is interest from many other healthcare organisations in using Hark, providing enormous potential for research.