IT news: News round-up
The latest deployment and solutions news from the healthcare IT sector
Jersey trust switches to Zircadian solutions
HEALTH services in Jersey will use Zircadian’s e-Rota and e-Monitor solutions to manage and monitor junior doctors’ hours. States of Jersey Health & Social Care, although not part of the NHS, takes junior doctors from the South Coast and Wessex Deanery who are posted to the island’s hospital on training placements, and therefore must comply with the New Deal regulations. Melanie Grandfield, HR and medical staffing manager at States of Jersey during the implementation, said: “We wanted an electronic system that would be easier to use for staff and doctors alike, that would provide us with more information, and enable us to manage junior doctors’ hours more efficiently.” The system replaces a totally manual, paper-based solution and is used by the HR and medical staffing team as well as the junior doctors themselves.
Blackpool GP switches to hosted server
Synergy presents doctors with a problem-oriented medical record that is easy to use, highly flexible and can be used to constantly reflect a patient’s current medical situation
ASHFIELD Road Surgery in Blackpool is the latest GP practice to switch to a hosted service from iSOFT in a bid to cut costs and improve reliability. Previously an EMIS customer, the practice has also switched to iSOFT’s Synergy primary care solution. The move comes after St Paul’s Medical Centre, a larger practice that has used Synergy for 15 years, took over the running of Ashfield Road. Dr John Lockley, GP and chair of the independent iSOFT user group, said: “Synergy presents doctors with a problem-oriented medical record that is easy to use, highly flexible and can be used dynamically to constantly reflect a patient’s current medical situation.” St Paul's Medical Centre will continue to run Synergy on its own server as contractually the databases for the two practices have to be separate, but key staff will have access to Ashfield Road’s hosted environment from both sites.
Workflow boost from Imprivata
IMPRIVATA has launched new no-click innovations in virtualisation, mobility and clinician workflow to enable improved adoption of electronic medical records (EMR). The company has announced a partnership with Teradici to provide integration and interoperability of PC-over-IP zero client devices with Imprivata OneSign authentication and single sign-on software. The joint solution will enable healthcare providers to deploy VMware View virtual desktops with one-touch desktop roaming and stronger authentication. The company has also gone into partnership with Dell to integrate OneSign Virtual Desktop Access into Dell’s Mobile Clinical Computing platform for customers using VMware. This will enable clinicians to get faster access to vital patient data. In a third deal, OneSign will be integrated into Epic’s authentication API, streamlining workflow and simplifying compliance for computerised physician order entry. In addition, Imprivata has also launched OneSign Anywhere, designed specifically to enable single sign-on and authentication to healthcare applications from any location and any device. Commenting on the launches, David Ting of Imprivata said: “It is becoming increasingly important in the NHS both to ensure patient data is protected, but to also allow access to approved staff from anywhere within a hospital building or in the field. These solutions aim to make these processes safer, more secure and easier to deploy.”
EPR system rolled out at children’s hospital
The system will help to improve patient safety, eliminate errors, and allow Alder Hey to undertake extensive reporting and patient level costing for better financial management
JAC has won a contract with Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to undertake a trust-wide rollout of its Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration system. The deployment will help staff ensure the quality and accuracy of prescribing and eliminate drug transcription errors, as well as giving Alder Hey improved access to medication and administration records. Heather Swanston, project manager at the trust, said: “JAC’s solution will provide staff with closer management of prescriptions and will be key in streamlining the prescribing process by reducing the amount of data entry involved. The system will also help to improve patient safety, eliminate errors, and allow Alder Hey to undertake extensive reporting and patient level costing for better financial management.” The e-Prescribing functionality will first be rolled out to both inpatient and outpatient wards, with the intention of extending the outreach to the trust’s community sites in the future. Swanston said: “In addition to enhancing compliance and reducing errors, e-Prescribing can deliver savings in drug costs through closer management of prescriptions, and can cut the time taken to discharge patients by reducing waiting times for take-out medication, helping to free up beds. It also gives comprehensive audit trails for prescribing and medicines administration, improving clinical governance.”
3-year deal for IT recycling firm
IT DISPOSAL and recycling company, PRM Green Technologies, has secured a three-year contract with BMI Healthcare. PRM will perform quarterly collections from BMI’s 73 sites in compliance with Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directives. The deal was won in partnership with Orchid IT and PRM will further assist Orchid to deliver an end-to-end compliant solution. Tim Hawkins, PRM director, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for us to continue to grow the concept of our business, while securing more jobs for the future. The ability to continue to grow and be able to provide much-needed employment is a massive boost for the local economy. This contract confirms that we are moving in the right direction, while ensuring a greener future for the industry as a whole.” Dan Morgan, IT director for BMI parent company, General Healthcare, added: “This is an excellent and cost-effective method of disposing of our old IT equipment in an environmentally-friendly manner. The combination of Orchid’s quality customer service and PRM’s expertise are perfect for BMI.”
ALSO IN THE NEWS: Zircadian has announced a partnership with Miad UK to make the processes of appraisal, revalidation and job planning easier for doctors and dentists across the NHS. As a result, users of Zircadian’s systems will now find information about Miad’s training packages within the consultant portal, via the new ‘e-Learning’ tab, alongside the tabs for e-Appraisal, e-360 and e-JobPlan…
