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MICROSOFT LTD AND BARTS & THE LONDON NHS TRUST ANNOUNCE THAT EPR VIEWER GOES LIVE AT THE UK’S
Added: (Mon Jun 18 2001)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
MICROSOFT LTD AND BARTS & THE LONDON NHS TRUST ANNOUNCE THAT EPR VIEWER GOES LIVE AT THE UK’S LARGEST A&E
- An integration architecture is the key to achieving EPR and patient-focused IT systems within tight financial restraints –
Barts & The London NHS Trust, one of the largest and most complex Trust’s in the the UK, has announced that the first stage of its revolutionary EPR Viewer project has gone live in the A&E department. Working in partnership with Microsoft Enterprise Services, the Trust has developed an EPR architecture based on the concept of a ‘virtual repository’, that is capable of integrating all of the information currently held in the Trust’s diverse IT systems, through a single view web browser-based system. As well as protecting the Trust’s existing investments in IT, making it a cost-effective solution to meeting the Government’s EPR targets, the system is addressing the issues of confidentiality and security and improving the speed and efficiency of processes throughout the Trust.
Doug Howe, Acting Director of IT at Barts & the London NHS Trust commented: “In working with Microsoft to develop a new architecture we had two objectives. The first was to release ourselves from the constraints of our legacy systems and the second was to develop our intranet so that clinicians and managers could access information held in our operational systems – by using technology which is very intuitive.”
Mark Treleaven, Microsoft Ltd stated: “There are two options open to the NHS to achieve the Government’s guidelines for EPR: either the rip and replacement of all systems, or the integration of existing systems. Within the context of strong financial constraints that most NHS Trust’s work within, the latter is often the only option. Utilising Microsoft’s .NET Vision for Health, we have worked in partnership with the Trust to maximise the use of current technologies and industry standards such as XML, to access multiple back-end systems in real-time and present a single view of the patient record using an industry standard approach and component-based development.”
Barts & the London NHS Trust has been working in partnership with Microsoft since February 2000 to develop an intranet-based Clinical Workstation that uses clinical information gathered together from existing systems. The major problem was how to integrate a 24 year-old HISS and some 60 clinical and departmental systems, together with the vast numbers of patient notes, thousands of which are kept in a central store and dispatched to one of the Trust’s three main sites, when required.
The solution was to create an all-embracing architecture based on the concept of a ‘virtual repository’, where information is ‘called-off’ the Trust’s HISS, various databases and departmental systems and presented in one consistent way in the EPR Viewer. On the EPR screen, clinicians will see gathered together patient information that is contained in clinical, administrative and departmental systems, with images of the paper record, plus all tests, examinations and treatments. Records that are updated in real-time within the departmental or clinical system will be made available directly to the EPR Viewer. This is done instantaneously or where appropriate, by the intermediary of an EPR Repository.
The EPR Viewer solution has enabled the Trust to protect its existing investment made in diverse and previously incompatible IT systems throughout the Trust, through an architectural integration strategy, rather than ‘rip and replace’ approach. This has made the solution cost-effective and risk-averse, whilst at the same time putting the building blocks in place for the achievement of EPR.
Barry Elliott, Director of Finance at the Trust commented: “There is pressure to spend every last penny on direct patient care, with support services playing second fiddle. Whilst this is understandable, it can be a false economy in the longer term. We felt that to provide good quality patient care we needed good information systems and a good information infrastructure underpinning what we do.”
The system will deliver significant benefits – clinical, financial and administrative – to the Trust. It will improve the efficiency of processes such as prescribing on discharge and reduce the problems of lost notes and duplicated data. In addition, it will deliver benefits to hospital managers, by providing more robust and accurate data on which to base discussions about service management. It will also contribute to clinical risk management and contract assurance agendas, by ensuring the right information is available at the time of diagnosis and treatment.
The EPR Viewer system is currently in use in A&E and will be rolled out throughout the Trust towards the end of the year. There are plans to ‘mobilise’ the EPR, making it available at the bedside or clinic through the use of hand-held computers and radio LAN technology. This will facilitate developments such as e-prescribing. Lastly, the Trust is also developing its plans to make the EPR Viewer available to healthcare professionals in the community, providing them with services such as referrals and bookings, to enable the seamless delivery of care for patients.
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