National A+E system begins rollout in Scotland

iSOFT has announced the first implementation of a Scotland-wide A&E informatics system in NHS Grampian.

The Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) went live in Aberdeen Children’s Hospital in May and in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in January and May respectively. iSOFT is rolling out the rest of the system to NHS Grampian, and plans to have the system nationally installed by the end of next year.

Susan Fraser, project manager in A&E at NHS Grampian, told E-Health Insider: "Staff have embraced it fully, to the point that they wonder how they could have worked without it."

EDIS incorporates patient tracking in a ‘whiteboard’ feature, that shows the status of each patient in the A&E department. "The benefit of it is that they are able to track patients after their admission and know at any point where a patient is," said Fraser.

The system is intended to operate through the use of touch screen technology, although Fraser explained that the hardware for this had not been installed as yet.

Fraser added that the system was installed "just at the right time" as although the four-hour government target for patients waiting in A&E has not yet been enforced in Scotland, plans are afoot to make this happen soon.

NHS Scotland decided to install a nationwide A&E system for a number of reasons. Cost effectiveness was one issue, but another aspect of having a nationwide system is that nationwide statistics can be collected.

Fraser said that this was especially helpful both on a local and Scotland-wide level: "This is the first time we’ve got quality clinical data in a real-time situation." The software will report on attendances and waiting times, and has initially focused on paediatric care.

EDIS is manufactured by HAS Solutions, a member of the iSOFT Group, and does not depend on the installation of other iSOFTproducts.

Installations are taking place elsewhere in NHS Grampian, and also at sites in NHS Forth Valley, NHS Argyll & Clyde and NHS Highland.