MARK KIRPALANI, managing director of Capital Capture, explores the advantages that streamlined document management technology could bring for the healthcare industry
This summer, NHS England announced a £260m technology fund will be made available to NHS providers. A key aim of this initiative is to support a move away from paper-based systems for patient notes and prescriptions towards integrated electronic care records and the development of e-prescribing and e-referral systems.
In some hospitals, this shift towards digitisation of patient records is already underway, with the goal of accelerating patient care, cutting waiting lists, and enabling more straightforward information sharing between departments.
While digitisation no doubt has an important role to play in improving current document and records management processes for the healthcare industry, the huge volume of legacy documents also needs to be considered
NHS England believes this will help stop the situation where patients find themselves having to repeat their medical history over and over again because the hospital does not have access to their records.
As well as helping to realise this important objective, the technology underpinning these changes also offers the potential to deliver a better quality of patient care by reducing time spent trawling through patient notes and getting the correct insight to the relevant practitioner at the right time.
However, while digitisation no doubt has an important role to play in improving current document and records management processes for the healthcare industry, the huge volume of legacy documents also needs to be considered. After all, even if a full electronic system were to be implemented, the requirement to work with legacy paper records would remain.
Rather than moving away from paper entirely, introducing document scanning and classification technology could therefore offer a more practical and less disruptive way to improve information management in healthcare.
The scanning aspect of the technology digitises paper documents, eliminating the need to continually transport what can be heavy, lengthy files around hospitals.
Using easily-configured classification software to automatically read and classify paper records, clinicians and administrators can scan for specific correspondence or case areas within a pre-specified timeline, saving time and increasing access to information on an ad-hoc basis.
Rather than allowing input errors to continue unchanged, the fact that document management systems capture data as soon as it enters the organisation means that errors can be instantly flagged-up through data cleansing. As a result, any mistakes can be identified and resolved as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
From a records management perspective, a comprehensive ‘scan, store, shred’ document solution can also help to ease the burden of archive files, ensuring that records are secure, easily accessible and not taking up excess space.
By gradually automating document and records management processes in the NHS and the wider healthcare industry, it may well be possible to shrink the gap between the current, predominantly paper-dependent healthcare sector and the Government’s vision of digitally-enabled, efficient paperless hospitals of the future – without causing unnecessary disruption to healthcare workers, patients and everyday practice
Paper documents are automatically scanned in at the point they enter the organisation and then shredded, creating large volumes of recyclable material. This can also facilitate improved distribution of information throughout the organisation, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, while observing relevant legislation.
Archiving documents electronically in this way also brings the added advantage of ensuring better security than manual storage, with less risk of loss or damage.
Using document classification alongside an archiving solution will guarantee that the correct retention and disposal policy can be quickly identified and data cleansing can be carried out on existing records. This approach will also ensure compliance while further increasing the level of process automation./
In all, by gradually automating document and records management processes in the NHS and the wider healthcare industry, it may well be possible to shrink the gap between the current, predominantly paper-dependent healthcare sector and the Government’s vision of digitally-enabled, efficient paperless hospitals of the future – without causing unnecessary disruption to healthcare workers, patients and everyday practice.
