Cerner to offer full 18-week wait reporting by autumn

Evidence of the different approaches being pursued by Fujitsu the NHS IT local service provider (LSP) in the South of England and BT, the LSP for London, has emerged over how to obtain 18-week reporting from the Cerner Millennium software they are both offering.

Cerner has exclusively told E-Health Insider that it will provide tools within its software to fully support 18-week waits by the autumn and is already offering more basic reporting, though no NHS trusts have yet implemented this.

One of the criticisms made of the Cerner Millennium product on offer in the South and London is its reported limitations in measuring and supporting 18-week referral-to-treatment waits, a Government ‘must do’ for every NHS trust to monitor and achieve.

As EHI reported in June Winchester and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre – two trusts in the South that have been supplied Millennium by Fujitsu – have both reported difficulties on statutory reporting, including on 18-week waits. NOC and neighbouring Oxford Radcliffe are among trusts to have bought a separate off-the-shelf reporting package.

David Sides, chief executive of Cerner UK has told E-health Insider, however, that the issue is at least partly due to the different approaches being taken by the LSPs and says Cerner has offered solutions on 18-week waits with a strategic solution due by the fall [autumn].

He said Cerner has offered two different solutions – one tactical and one more strategic – to meet the reporting requirement on 18-week waits, but met with different responses from BT and Fujitsu.

"There was a solution put forward for 18-week waits in the South, but the South said they would like a more elegant solution," Sides told EHI last week.

But a different response came from BT in London. "The same solution was offered to BT in London and they said ‘Yes we want it’, so there is a system available and it can be deployed. It is up to trusts to take it, so far none have,” said Sides.

Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust is set to very shortly become the first trust in London to take Cerner Millennium from BT through the NHS IT programme, with final testing now underway.

Sides says that the full ‘strategic’ solution will be available to both London and the South by this autumn: "Another solution to achieve the same goal in a different way will be available to both clusters, aiding data collection for the 18 week referral-to-treatment target in a more robust manner, which should be out by fall."

Cerner says that this later, ‘strategic’ version of 18-week reporting will provides "direct linkage between outpatient and inpatient with no software changes needed". The company says it will be made available in Q4 2007, with further additions to follow, based on changing national requirements and user feedback.

Sides said that the later strategic solution that will be offered to all trusts in London and the South should offer considerable advantages: "Rather than just doing periodical reporting, this system will continuously monitor performance levels ensuring referrals are completed within 18 weeks."

In a follow-up statement to EHI Cerner said: "In response to the 18-week wait national target, Cerner has developed an immediate solution to help trusts meet the requirement. This is the first in a series of solution lifecycle development updates that will roll out further functionality with each phase."