MAPLE - DIGITAL MEAL ORDERING

Helps promote the National standards for healthcare food and drink 2022 in the NHS

Ambinet Software is a multi-award winning software developer based in the UK

Our systems are developed primarily for the NHS and are deployed in many Trusts across the UK and Northern Ireland

Maple promotes compliance with the NHS 2022 National standards for healthcare food & drink

Digital Meal Ordering

Maple is a patient centric, comprehensive Digital Meal Ordering Solution deployed in many Trusts across the UK. It makes the ordering fast, informative and appealing for both ward staff and the catering team using a state of the art handheld Tablet.

Cost Effective

Maple is a cost effective digital meal ordering solution to implement for any Trust.

For training and testing it can be deployed step by step - a few wards at a time with live online video training via MS. Teams Deployment time is fast and normally no more than a few weeks.

Browser based online Maple Admin and Reporting

All server hardware provided

No Trust IT Involvement

The system hardware and Cloud hosting is provided entirely by Ambinet Software, making the implementation of Maple easy and smooth for the Trust.

WiFi is not required Maple can also run in disconnected mode to take orders, only required to sync them to the production kitchen

It is also completely independent of Trust IT involvement for both setup and support.

Ward A Android Tablets running the Maple App which is also

Ward B

Ward X

Key Features

Independent multi site management

Bed based patient meal ordering

Meal ordering for guests

Photographic, visual menus

NHS National Standards 2022 compliant

Instant meal allergy Information

Instant meal nutritional information

Menu item filtering function

Diet coding on meals

Provision for special diet menus

Daily cyclic and regular menus

Dietitian’s remote input for meals

Dietitian’s control over special menus

Patient feedback monitoring

Temperature recording

Waste recording

Ordering of daily ward issues

Ward kitchen top up facility

Replenishment Module

Automated Meal Sync

Instant update to menus and items

Web based kitchen Admin system

Automated consolidation of orders

Detailed pick sheets

Comprehensive reporting

Range of formats for reports export

Easy to Use

The Maple app is designed to have a very fast learning curve, typically no more than 15 minutes.

The functional layout is intuitive and easy to follow. In a typical implementation, only one Maple Tablet is used for each ward.

Placing Meal Orders

The bed list is shown in the order of the bed layout in the ward. The colour coding makes it easy to recognise normal, special diets and nil by mouth patients. For data security, bed references are used to track orders and WiFi is not required to take orders.

Security of Data

MAPLE requires NO PATIENT DATA to run because bed references are used to track orders.

All data transferred in the system is encrypted and sits on our secure cloud hosting servers

Visual Menus

Patients and staff can easily view a visual images of the meals being served with key meal information including:

● Description of the meal

● Diet coding

● Diet type

● Allergy information

● Nutritional data

Menu Sections

Customisable menu sections allows the Trust to break down options neatly. This also gives full control to set the amount of meal items from each section which are permitted for the meal

For example, 1 main meal only, but up to 2 items allowed from the sides section.

Instant Diet Type Filtering

To cater for dietetic specific meals, the user can quickly apply diet-type filtering to the menu they are viewing based on their dietetic needs

The pop up filtering list allows a complete list of the diets available to select from

for example; Gluten Free, High Energy, vegetarian or healthy option etc.

Special Dietary Requirements

A dietitian or an authorised member of the ward staff can update the ordering status and assign a special diet menu, thereby fulfilling specific dietary requirements, such as diabetic, soft or finger food for the patient.

There is no limit to the number of regular or special cyclic or static menus.

Auto-Sync Send Meal orders to kitchen

Maple’s Auto-sync feature automatically sends completed meal orders to the kitchen without the need for ward staff to action manually.

This is triggered by returning back to the bed screen following an order placement

For Dieticians

Dietitians can access the patient bed remotely from their offices via the online Maple portal. They can assign special menus with specific dietary notes if required.

To update a patient status the staff name, job title and a signature is always required for accountability.

Remote patient Management for Dieticians

Dedicated module allows the dietitians to record patients dietary requirements.

Facility to change patient’s menu base on their bed and detail any specific patient notes easily from the admin portal with a date/time stamp for full accountability.

Catering Top-up

Maple features a dedicated catering module which allows catering staff to record deliveries against orders when topping-up provisions in the ward’s own kitchens. This allows for charge back, and monitoring of provisions and to generate reports of items delivered and the total costs each month.

Daily Ward Extras

Ward staff can place orders as many times as required for daily ward issues and transmit them to the production kitchen.

All items can be placed in the ward extras menu, such as cereals, beverages, snacks and sundries including ward cleaning products if required.

Order up to 21 days in advance

Dependant on the Trust’s requirements Maple can be configured to allow meal ordering for today, tomorrow, or up to 21 days in advance.

If not required these options can easily be disabled in the system.

Selecting the day required

Selecting the 7 day option maps out the week from tomorrow’s date, allowing the user to choose a day and build up their meal orders in advance then send orders to the kitchen.

The meal orders placed can be revised, updated or cancelled if required

Patient Feedback

Staff can carry out patient feedback surveys with questions specifically designed for the Trust.

The results are automatically transmitted for detailed reports. Feedback questions can be updated at anytime, allowing flexibility for the Trust when changes in the meal service occur.

Recording Food Temperature

Maple provides easy to manage facility for recording food temperatures at the ward, which include Regen Temperature (RGN) when the food arrives at the ward, Before service temperature (BS) when the patient meal service starts and After service temperature (AS) when the final tray is served.

Return

Departmental Issues

The system allows monitoring of food items and other goods, at times when ward or department staff visit the main kitchen to collect provisions.

The catering staff are able to enter this activity directly into the Maple Tablet and have the collector’s name and signature for later reporting and cost analysis.

Replenishment Facility

Maple also provides a replenishment record tool. This allows the replenishment team to evidence delivery of a range of supplies and sundries including cleaning supplies and linen, and creating a full cost history.

Staff can mark any shortfall and sign off items upon delivery.

Web based admin and reports portal

Maple provides a comprehensive web based administration portal for the kitchen and the dietitians with

separate and secure login. This allows monitoring of standard and dietetic meal orders & ward issues.

Flexible options for creating cyclic menus

Creating static or cyclic menus is quick and easy with an intuitive interface. Cyclic menus can be set to repeat single, two, three or four week cycles.

Changes in menus from the admin are reflected on Tablets, when Maple app is relaunched.

Add meals to menus

The comprehensive meal items interface allows the user to add food items / dishes that will appear in the menus.

Information such as images, allergy, diet and nutrition can easily be added and updated.

Detailed Reports

Maple provides many reports for every aspect of meal ordering with date based analysis, including:

● Consolidated pick lists

● Ward extras summary

● Order history

● Demand history

● Menu history

● Order totals

● Ward Service

● Patient Label Report

● Temperature

● Waste Report Plate / Regen

● Patient feedback

Pick Lists

Maple provides many operational meal reports to service kitchen production. This pick list shows the caterers what

food items are required for the specific meal time and is also available on a consolidated

Ward service report

This report can be printed to accompany the delivery trolley as a checklist to ensure everything ordered is delivered for each ward.

There is also a comments field for any additional notes or signature as confirmation for orders received.

Menu based order history

This report gives you a good overview of precisely what food items are being ordered across all sites within each menu.

Track trends of most/least popular items, and provides you with a totals column.

Order history report

This report is based on Meal Sittings for each order type, and totals are displayed for each ward.

You are able to specify the date range and generate reports to view on screen or download in various formats.

This report is useful along with other Maple management reports available as part of your trend analysis and financial breakdown.

Menu Labels

This label report can be printed and cut to accompany the delivery of pre-prepped meals to patients.

Patient notes are also captured on these reports. The labels are broken up into alternate sittings Lunch and dinner for a clear informative display.