Transcendit are pleased to announce that we’re sponsoring Daft as a Brush: Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 15th October at O2 City Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne. We’ve been chatting to Adam Kuznesof to find out more about Daft as a Brush, and the work that Transcendit does for the charity.
‘Transcendit have been working with Daft as a Brush since 2016,’ says Adam Kuznesof. ‘ We’ve provided the charity with IT assistance, equipment and support; but the most significant thing we’ve done is develop the Ambulance Patient Transport application, or the APT app’
What do Daft as a Brush do?
‘Daft as a Brush specialise in cancer patient care; specifically, transporting cancer patients to and from hospital,’ says Adam. ‘Those undergoing cancer treatment need a way to get to and from the hospital which is often a difficult and emotional process. Patients can either take themselves in, but that can be a struggle for people going through chemotherapy and other treatments. Patients can be transported by friends or family, but that requires patients to have close people that they can depend on, and then those people have to be available.’
‘The other option is the Patient Transport Service, or PTS, which is NHS transportation. Although this is an excellent idea, it's not very convenient for patients in practice,’ says Adam. ‘The NHS Patient Transport System will give patients a four hour window to be picked up in, during which the patient needs to wait at home. They will then drive the patients to the hospital, where they have to wait for their appointment which could be anywhere between one and three hours away depending on when they were picked up. Patients then repeat the same process in order to get home.’
‘But Daft as a Brush provides an alternative. A patient going for cancer treatment can give Daft as a Brush their schedule, and then they’ll be contacted the night before by phone to let them know when they can expect to be picked up. They also send a driver and a companion to accompany the patient, and the companion goes to the appointment with the patient, so they always have someone with them during what can be very activating and emotional appointments. When they’re done, the Daft as a Brush driver comes to pick them up and take them back home. There’s very little wait time either side, which is far better and more convenient for the patient.’
How did Transcendit help?
‘Transcendit were approached by Daft as a Brush to create an application which would streamline this service,’ says Adam. ‘There are three separate things involved in making this service work; the patients, the volunteers (drivers and companions) and the ambulances. Before Transcendit started working with them, this was handled entirely by a small admin team, which was a huge undertaking. They have to crew the ambulances with volunteers, map out how to get to the patients, then pass the ambulance onto the next crew.’
‘We wrote an application which started this process by requesting the volunteers' availability, and then matched available volunteers with ambulances. It also optimises how the ambulances hand over from crew to crew, and assigns patients to those ambulances. Our Ambulance Patient Transportation application essentially sits in the middle of the patients, the volunteers and the ambulances, so it's far easier for the admin team to organise.’
‘We’re proud to continue to support Daft as a Brush,’ says Adam, ‘both in the work that we do for them and our sponsorship. Transcendit are sponsoring Daft as a Brush’s event, Last Night of the Proms, which should be an incredible evening for music lovers as well as raising much needed funds for the charity.’
Daft as a Brush Last Night of the Proms
Daft as a Brush Last Night of the Proms is a concert at O2 City Hall in Newcastle, featuring music, song, choir and dance. The charity is hoping that ticket sales will help them to purchase their 100th ambulance, which will enable them to transport even more cancer patients in the North East.
If you’d like to attend Daft as a Brush Last Night of the Proms, you can buy tickets here. You can also donate to Daft as a Brush directly on their website.
If you think an application would help streamline your business, give us a call on 0191 482 0444
