IT news: Government cash injection for IT solution that aims to improve patient nutrition
A COMPUTER programme that enables healthcare staff to share information on nutritional supplements prescribed to patients between hospitals and the GP surgeries has won financial backing from the Department of Health.
Supplier, ScriptSwitch, working in partnership with NHS Bristol, has been awarded an Innovation Challenge Prize, which recognises the efforts of frontline NHS staff and other health professionals in improving patient care.
ScriptSwitch works with GPs' computers to provide useful information at the point of prescribing to help them make the best choice and also to prompt the prescriber to take specific action
The solution is expected to help save the PCT more than £150,000 a year through improved prescribing.
It was one of three innovations which won DH funding. The other winners were a dialysis at home service developed by Manchester Royal Infirmary; and Cytosponge, a new way to test for oesophegal cancer developed by the Cambridge Medical Research Council Cancer Unit and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Announcing the funding, Health Minister, Lord Howe, said: "All NHS staff have the power to improve services for patients. We want to give them the freedom to use it. We need to support innovation in the NHS, not suffocate it. In every hospital, GP practice and clinic we need to ensure innovation can flourish by supporting clinicians to develop new ways of thinking and delivering care to benefit patients and the NHS. Innovation is essential to help the NHS modernise by delivering more for less, improving the quality of care for patients while at the same time saving money."
The project has yielded savings for the NHS of roughly £13,000 a month - that's £156,000 a year than can be reinvested into frontline care
The ScriptSwitch team at NHS Bristol have won £35,000 in funding, which will be used to expand the programme. A trust spokesman said: "We used to spend £722,000 a year on prescriptions for nutritional supplements. A local audit showed this prescribing could be reduced significantly and that practice could be made more evidence-based and cost-effective. A team from the trust worked in collaboration with dieticians at a local hospital to identify the best way to drive up quality of care while reducing costs and they made use of ScriptSwitch, which works with GPs' computers to provide useful information at the point of prescribing to help them make the best choice and also to prompt the prescriber to take specific action. The project has yielded savings for the NHS of roughly £13,000 a month - that's £156,000 a year than can be reinvested into frontline care."
Plans to expand the service include getting dieticians to visit malnourished patients in their own homes and in care homes to improve their diet.
- Companies:
- ScriptSwitch Ltd
- Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Cambridge University Hospitals
