UiPath has partnered with Swiftqueue, the cloud-based scheduling platform for healthcare, to support patients and hospitals, and create significant savings amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced on Wednesday.

“Our partnership with Swiftqueue is tried and tested now and is providing real, tangible, benefits to the Irish people, clinicians and the hospitals for COVID-19 testing. In the long term, giving patients autonomy over their appointment booking will reduce the number of healthcare staff required to manage this process,” Ian McGregor, Public Sector Director UK & Ireland at UiPath, said.

Under the partnership, UiPath will provide its unattended automation solution to bridge Swiftqueue’s patient engagement system with the multiple data storing systems with Swiftqueue hospitals.

The Swiftqueue platform has been used in Ireland, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada to schedule patients for outpatient and diagnostic clinic appointments, including blood tests in hospitals and community settings.

“Automation ensures data consistency across multiple hospital departments, with clinicians and healthcare administrators having rapid access to the correct data. This frees up medical staff who can be deployed to other departments on the frontline patient care where the need for them is greater, both while fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath,” added McGregor.

Through UiPath’s software robots, the solution will be functional across all hospitals, national healthcare trusts and organizations, diagnostic clinics and specialty departments. Software robots log into all the hospital record systems, verify and pull correct patient data and available slots across every medical specialty into the scheduling platform.

The patient will then be granted access to a personal account where all appointment details for the patient and their family can be stored and reviewed. If the patient cannot attend an appointment, they will able to reschedule.

Once the appointment booking process is complete, robots will automate reporting, aggregate data and communicate key reporting widely in multiple formats to hospitals and healthcare organizations.

With UiPath’s solution, hospital statistics have shown that for 40 percent of the patients who receive the appointment times via post, the proposed time will not suit them. While 15 percent of them change their plans and attend the medical appointment, 85 percent need to call the hospital for rescheduling.

“The global presence and the extended partner community currently managed by UiPath worldwide is a very attractive environment for Swiftqueue to collaborate in when looking to improve the daily lives of patients and healthcare staff,” Brendan Casey, CEO of Swiftqueue, said.

About UiPath

UiPath is leading the ’automation first’ era—championing a robot for every person and enabling robots to learn new skills through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Through free and open training, UiPath brings digital era skills to millions of people around the world, improving business productivity and efficiency, employee engagement, and customer experience.

The company’s hyperautomation platform combines the #1 Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution with a full suite of capabilities that enable every organization to scale digital business operations at unprecedented speed. The company has already automated millions of repetitive, mind-numbing tasks for businesses and government organizations all over the world including approximately 50% of the Fortune 500.

Jacobs has released a Climate Action Plan to outline the company’s commitments to combat the climate crisis, the company announced on Wednesday.

“From the way we operate our business, to the work we perform with clients and other organizations, Jacobs’ Climate Action Plan details how we will continue to make a positive environmental, societal and economic difference for businesses, governments and communities around the world,” said Jacobs Chair and CEO Steve Demetriou.

Jacobs’ Climate Action Plan has committed to help solve the climate crisis by achieving and maintaining 100 percent renewable energy, net zero carbon for the company’s operations and business travel in 2020 and carbon negative for its operations and business travel by 2030.

The Climate Action Plan has also outlined delivery plans built on the foundations of Jacobs’ PlanBeyond strategy, which was launched in early 2019 to set out sustainability priorities across the business and how the company is helping sustain the planet for future generations.

PlanBeyond’s strategy has been aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The strategy has projected an approach to Jacobs’ sustainability platform. It has planned for a more sustainable future for everyone. PlanBeyond has prioritized the environmental, social and economic impacts on Jacobs’ business, by focusing on Jacobs’ people, places and partnerships.

The Climate Action Plan has targeted for carbon reductions across both Jacobs’ operations and supply chain emissions by 2030. Jacobs’ biggest opportunity to affect climate change is through the work performed for clients.

Because of Jacobs’ continued commitment to sustainability, the company was recently recognized by Environmental Business International (EBI) with six business achievement awards for leadership and outstanding performance in its corporate, environmental and climate change work in 2019.

Of the awards, Jacobs received, inclusion and diversity, has recognized the company’s continued efforts to develop “Conscious Inclusion” training for all employees, broadening ethnic and gender diversity in its executive team and adding an eighth global employee network.

The company also received an industry leadership award for its hydrogen economy. Jacobs developed a sustainable hydrogen supply chain model tailored for Australia’s emerging hydrogen economy. Jacobs’ global thought leaders developed a white paper that outlined a sustainable vision for hydrogen production in Australia in May 2019.

The third award recognized Jacobs’ social contributions. The company worked with Home Leone’s anti-poverty program in the West Africa country of Sierra Leone, which is developing a new community and relocating more than 2,000 people from across Freetown’s 62 slums to new, secure, low-cost homes.

“Today, we reveal a plan that sets us apart – capturing the shared passion, pride and drive of our people as we work to preserve our planet for future generations,” added Demetriou.

About Jacobs

At Jacobs, we’re challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world’s most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good.

With $13 billion in revenue and a talent force of more than 55,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector.