Supporting patient care

Technology company, Cegedim, is supporting the NHS by making new functionality, resources, support and guidance available to ensure GPs and pharmacy teams can get the most out of the tools available to them during the coronavirus crisis.

With GPs rapidly adapting their services around new ways of working, its Vision GP IT solution is being improved.

Cegedim already offers Vision Anywhere for mobile access and shared care, and has been working closely with GP practices, health boards and clinical commissioning groups to enable remote access to the full Vision 3 clinical system; allowing existing and returning GPs to provide continuity of care while working remotely.

It has also developed reporting and monitoring tools to help analyse, monitor and flag affected patients, to ensure effective clinical management of coronavirus-related consultations in line with the latest guidance from NHS National bodies across the four home countries.

And a new clinical template allows for quick and concise recording of a patient’s travel history, vulnerability assessments, diagnostics and monitoring.

These reports will help identify patients who may be eligible for a vaccine and as when it becomes available.

The company is also helping to enhance patient services.

It already offers text messaging solutions for keeping patients updated on practice, local and national advice, and sending health questionnaires.

Vision Text Messaging can facilitate group messaging to provide patients with up-to-date information regarding new coronavirus procedures and support tailored information provided to a specific set of patients if necessary.

Doctors and clinical staff can also use Vision’s Consultation Manager to contact a patient directly via SMS from within the patient record. This, again, provides a rapid communication that alleviates pressure on both administrative and clinical staff.

Cegedim, now more than ever, is committed to working together with the NHS and our customers to find and deliver the most-effective solutions to healthcare challenges

Cegedim is now working with partners to establish links with video conferencing products, including AccuRx, DoctorLink and Attend Anywhere.

And the support is not just for GPs. With more people depending on community pharmacies, Cegedim has taken a number of steps to ensure pharmacy teams can remain focused on their patients, including:

PMR enhancements:

In collaboration with the NHS, Cegedim has increased the length of time a user can be logged on to the SPINE. As working hours are inevitably extended, this small change ultimately means less disruption and re-authentication of smartcards for time pressed pharmacy teams.

Alongside specific COVID-19 initiatives, Cegedim is pressing ahead even faster with plans to deliver efficiencies to pharmacy with the latest PMR releases focused on pharmacy time savers including one-click access to the Summary Care Record and Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC).

Pharmacy business continuity

Cegedim has worked closely with the NHS to develop a secure method for the safe return of scripts to the spine to ensure that patient prescriptions can be redirected and the supply of patient medication is unaffected in the event of a pharmacy needing to close.

If the pharmacy has an alternative site, Cegedim now also offers support to move essential PMR machines from the closed branch to new alternative premises, allowing the pharmacy to continue to serve patients with minimal interruption.

And Cegedim is fast developing solutions to ensure pharmacies have the right support in the unfortunate event of fewer staff or a site closure as a result of COVID-19. This includes the new ability to remotely access the Pharmacy Manager PMR from another location.

Extended service desk hours

In response to the changing pharmacy work patterns, Cegedim has introduced longer opening hours for its service desk.

Learning zone

Cegedim has launched a new, free Learning Zone full of bite-sized video content to help quickly upskill pharmacy teams who are either new to Cegedim’s Pharmacy Manager PMR, or returning to work to support a pharmacy.

The Learning Zone is accessible anywhere and on any device, so pharmacists can refresh their PMR knowledge on their commute, at home, or within the pharmacy.

Pro delivery manager (PDM)

With additional pressure to deliver more medicines direct to patients’ homes, Cegedim is offering all its customers four months free access to Pro Delivery Manager (PDM).

Our business has shown incredible resilience over the last few weeks and, while mobilising our own staff to work remotely, has assured the continued delivery of critical NHS services, as well as the delivery of new features, support and services

PDM is a delivery tracking app which enables pharmacies to improve the efficiency of their delivery service, providing cost savings and enhancing patient relationships.

Cegedim and Pro Delivery Manager are working closely together to deliver a seamlessly-integrated solution later this year, but, in the meantime, Cegedim has quickly adapted the Pharmacy Manager PMR to export delivery patient information in a PDM-ready format, allowing customers to take immediate advantage of the PDM solution.

Steve Bradley, group managing director of Cegedim UK, said: “Cegedim, now more than ever, is committed to working together with the NHS and our customers to find and deliver the most-effective solutions to healthcare challenges.

“Our business has shown incredible resilience over the last few weeks and, while mobilising our own staff to work remotely, has assured the continued delivery of critical NHS services, as well as the delivery of new features, support and services.

“It is our duty and commitment to continue to rise to the challenge of this current pandemic and help our customers to adapt and cope with increased demands – this is our commitment to our customers, to patients and to the NHS.”