Servelec partners with Lancashire trust to support digital maturity goals

Servelec has completed a rollout of its Rio electronic patient record (EPR) software at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health and learning disabilities provider.

It will also continue to work with the trust on an ongoing basis to build on its recent HIMSS Level 5 award and GDE Digital Leader accreditation to continue to improve its digital maturity rating, assessing strengths and gaps within the trust around its digital technology to achieve a paper-free system.

In November 2020, 3,500 staff at the trust were moved onto Rio in one day, replacing its previous in-house built system.

And, more recently, Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust took on services for South Cumbria, which was already using Rio, so in May this year both versions were merged, completing the implementation for the trust.

The trust now has a single patient record for mental health and learning disabilities across the Lancashire and South Cumbria region, including its Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

The trust has also joined the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS, meaning the new system will be used across the entire geographical area.

Previously, pathways for mental health or learning disability patients were complex and children would often be on a different EPR system to adults, and when a patient moved between the two it could result in a lack of transfer of record, meaning critical background information could be missing.

Now, with Rio, clinicians across different services will have a complete picture of each patient, including their history and referral data.

And patients no longer need to fill in gaps in their history to a clinician, or if they have a learning disability which isn’t automatically identifiable, such as autism, the clinician will be able to see this on a patient’s notes without having to ask or confirm through another service.

Creating excellent healthcare software isn’t about one size fits all; it’s about constantly identifying areas to grow and working with customers to improve services across the board

The solution will also support patients who move between different areas in the region with visibility of their data across each location, resulting in more-informed care and an improved experience for the patient.

As a Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria has recently seen their HIMMS digital maturity score increase to Level 5, largely due to the digitisation of its clinical records.

Aiming to increase its maturity rating, the trust has entered a strategic partnership with Servelec, where the two organisations will work together to identify areas of concern for clinicians and optimise the Rio system to provide support and improvement.

Ben Rigg, head of digital programmes at the trust, said: “In order to improve our digital service for patients, we set out to find a leading mental health solution and we’re really pleased with our implementation experience with Servelec and its Rio EPR.”

Steve Wightman, managing director at Servelec Healthcare, added: “We’re thrilled to see Lancashire and South Cumbria making the most of the new system.

"Creating excellent healthcare software isn’t about one size fits all; it’s about constantly identifying areas to grow and working with customers to improve services across the board.”

With Rio fully implemented, Servelec and the trust will shortly begin a project to look into its APIs to explore the promotion of interoperability for the organisation, particularly integration to mobilise clinical teams.