NHS Forth Valley introduces patient testing and diagnostics software
Fourth health board in Scotland to deploy Plumtree Group solution
NHS Forth Valley has become the fourth client in Scotland to order cutting-edge software aimed at increasing the efficiency of its patient testing and diagnosis procedures.
The health board, which oversees services in areas such as Falkirk, Stirling and Dunblane, has placed a £300,000 contract with the Plumtree Group for an order communications system for its pathology, radiology and cardiology departments.
The organisation processes around one million patient information requests each year from within the hospital and primary care providers. The new dartOCM technologies will replace the board’s old paper-based systems, improving efficiency, the speed of obtaining results and patient safety.
Ben Dorks, group director of the Plumtree Group, said: “This software brings many advantages over traditional paper-based systems where paperwork can sometimes get lost or mislaid. It results in a far more efficient process, saving staff time and helping to improve patient safety.”
In addition to new orders for the order communications system in Scotland, other NHS trusts in England are also seeking to add modules to their existing levels of support.
East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has purchased two additional modules covering phlebotomy, enabling patient blood test appointments to be booked and changed online, and consumables ordering for items such as blood test tubes and urine bottles. And in Lincolnshire the Path Links Pathology Service, a single managed clinical pathology network operating across the county, has ordered the consumables ordering module.