IT news: News round-up

Published: 17-Mar-2011


PCTI rolls out solution to 1,000 practices

SOLUTIONS provider, PCTI, has announced it has deployed its document transfer solution to 1,000 GP practices in the country. Its EDT system enables GPs to receive documents electronically from multiple trusts and other service providers. It is due to be rolled out to 300 more practices soon. The company predicts the rollout could lead to saving for the NHS in the region of more than £2.6m. Dr Glyn Hayes, clinical director of PCTI, said EDT not only saved on administration time, but also ensured that the right information was on the doctor’s desktop when it was needed. He added: “From a clinical perspective I believe the deployment of EDT will help with a reduction in transcription errors and provide earlier and safer intervention with patients returning back to the community.”

A SMART move by Maidstone trust

SMART has been selected by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust to provide e-Rostering and bank management systems to reduce nursing budgets without cutting patient services. The new system has already allowed the trust to reduce its ‘head room’ contingency from 24% to 23%, which across the entire nursing budget represents a significant sum. Implementation of the bank management system for emergency nurse practitioners has also reduced bank usage by 53% without increasing the need for management resources. Liza Wolvey, project manager for the e-Rostering rollout at the trust, said: “The aim is to implement safe and effective rosters that will improve working conditions and provide a clear record of who was working at any given time, while ensuring that there is always the correct skill mix on wards to ensure patient safety and quality of care.” The trust now has nine medical rosters for doctors monitoring everything from absence to number of nights worked and sickness.

The key to protecting patient records

NORFOLK and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has selected IronKey Enterprise to secure and protect active patient records. With IronKey Enterprise, consultants, midwives, nurses and information analysts can carry sensitive data without risking violating the UK Data Protection Act or the Department of Health’s Information Governance (IG) Toolkit if a device is lost or stolen. Ben Everitt, acting head of IT at the trust, said: “When data losses in other public sector areas hit the news headlines, the Department of Health issued a mandate via the IG toolkit which meant our IT team took the required steps not only to protect all data stored on USB drives, but also to ensure we achieved level 2 of the toolkit.” Colin Woodland of IronKey added: “The Information Commissioners Office’s recent fines for data loss have simply highlighted the intense scrutiny that IT departments are under to find a way of protecting data.”

New solution for GP commissioners

We are offering GP commissioners cutting-edge software that will allow them to be sure that patients are getting the best treatment from the best provider

A NEW generation of software has been launched that aims to smooth the path to GP commissioning. The Activity Flow Analysis (AFA) patient workflow solution from Ardentia provides easy access to vital information about the availability and outcomes of services offered by various healthcare providers. This data will be essential as PCTs are abolished and the bulk of the hugely-complex NHS commissioning process passes to new GP-led organisations. Gary Luke, managing director of Ardentia, said: “The Government's plans to replace PCTs with GP consortia will take an enormous amount of work to implement. We are offering GP commissioners cutting-edge software that will allow them to be sure that patients are getting the best treatment from the best provider. Having a system which provides all the information they need to make the right decisions, will make their lives much easier and bring the peace of mind that they are providing a top-quality service for patients.” Welcoming the solution, Dr Marcus Griffiths, a GP from Newcastle-under-Lyme, said: “If GPs involved in commissioning had access to the type of information provided by AFA, then that would be a good thing.” The system was developed last year, but is currently undergoing further improvement through the introduction of Ardentia's Cassius Vision technology. This will make it even quicker to use, while sharper graphics will mean even better and bolder presentation of on-screen information.

Devon child health system complete

NORTHERN Devon Healthcare Trust has gone live with McKesson UK's CarePlus Child Health system. The implementation in the north of the county completes the roll-out of the solution across the whole of Devon, replacing four disparate solutions and providing centralised access for child health records across the region. Carolyn Mills, director of nursing at the trust, said: “We were keen to introduce a single integrated system to manage child health throughout the area and are confident we have chosen a solution that will meet our needs.” McKesson has integrated the system with the trust’s existing PAS to ensure registration details between the two are aligned and information is updated and accurate wherever it is accessed. Mills said: “As we enter into the era of an NHS information revolution, we have made it our policy to integrate systems where possible to deliver transparency across the trust and increase access to real-time information.”

ALSO IN THE NEWS:

Ardentia has improved its Activity Flow Analytics patient tracking software to become even faster, with enhanced graphics and improved on-screen presentation of data.

Healthcare solutions provider, Ascribe, has acquired 21C, a provider of healthcare business intelligence. 21C will combine with Ascribe’s WCI Healthcare division to form a new group known as Ascribe Consulting.

MedeAnalytics has announced a partnership with Pathway Solutions to offer Pathway's Validation Module as part of its web-based, hosted Commissioning Performance Analytics solution for PCTs and GP consortia.

PULSE, a health and social care staffing and services business, has implemented web-based patient safety software for incident reporting, risk management and clinical governance.

THE Docman electronic document management and transfer solution is being rolled out across GP practices in NHS Southwark. Supplier, PCTI, will deploy the technology in around 30 practices in the London borough. In addition, the surgeries will also receive PCTIs EDT module to receive electronic documents into Docman.

Two NHS trusts in Yorkshire have renewed contracts with iSOFT for patient administration systems in deals totalling £5.4m. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has extended its contract for iSOFTs PatientCentre PAS for three years with the option of a further two years, while Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a three-year extension.

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