County Durham & Darlington selects Civica’s electronic document management technology

Published: 18-Dec-2013

Partnership will improve patient care, communication among different healthcare teams and provide significant savings over the next 10 years


County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with Civica to implement the next stage of its paperless NHS strategy.

The deal will see the trust use Civica’s Electronic Document Management (EDM) solution to digitise the records of its patients, transforming the way that information is audited and governed and ultimately improving patient care.

The trust is one of the largest integrated care providers in England, with 890,000 active patient records, a proportion of which will be digested. As a result clinical and administrative staff will have faster access to vital patient information, which will better inform clinical decisions and free up valuable time.

At a time when NHS organisations are under increasing pressure to meet reduced waiting times, improve care and reduce outgoings, the trust has made the decision to use Civica’s WinDIP technology to modernise the way it operates.

The solution ensures that patient information is accurate, up-to-date and easily accessible from any location, while being stored in a completely secure environment. WinDIP reduces file storage space and replaces filing racks and cabinets, becoming a centralised system to house patient records.

If, for example, a patient visits a clinic and is referred to a different department within the trust, the relevant staff members will be able to instantly access the right records, to help speed up the whole treatment process. Transport, storage, administrative costs and the risk of lost patient records will be significantly reduced over the next 10 years as a result.

Diane Murphy, clinical director of service transformation and project sponsor at the trust, said: “We’re aiming to have paperless clinical record management by 2015 and this is the next step in our strategy to get there. Patient records are at the heart of what we do. Being able to provide our clinicians and administrative staff with the information they need at the touch of a button will transform the way patients are treated, and help us make huge savings in the years to come.”

Chris Ginnelly, managing director of Civica services and Civica records management, added: “We’re thrilled that County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has decided to invest in our technology to improve access to patients’ records to help improve care at a time when financial budgets and service levels are under continuous scrutiny. PricewaterhouseCoopers recently revealed that a potential £4.4 billion could be put back into the NHS with better use of IT, and it is clear that WinDIP is one step in helping organisations to do so.”

This win follows the launch in January of an expanded Civica Records Management business unit and a new identity for Gateway Computing following its acquisition in June 2012. Incorporating specialist EDM systems and outsourced document services used to digitise more than 140 million images annually for the health sector, Civica provides a market-leading capability through a unique combination of people, technology and business process expertise, at a time when electronic document and records management is increasingly seen as a means to increase service efficiency and quality.

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