Humber first mental health trust to use SystmOne

Humber Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust has become the first trust in the country to deploy the SystmOne Mental Health system, delivered by local service provider Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) as part of the NHS National Programme for IT.

Using SystmOne, ninety care practitioners working at the in-patient unit at the Townend Court learning disabilities unit in Hull and in the communities of Hull and East Riding are now able to input and access client assessments, care plans and care notes electronically.

The trust already has iSoft’s iPM delivered by former local service provider Accenture, and wanted a system for clinicians to do their own data entry on, using their new wireless network.

CSC demonstrated SystmOne to clinicians at the trust as an NPfIT offering, and trust clinicians agreed this would help make accessing records and reporting processes more straight forward.

The trust’s head of corporate development, Julie Wilson, told E-Health Insider: “At Humber, we see NPfIT as an asset for business change and not just an IT enabler. We wanted clinicians to be able to electronically access and enter data, and this solution fitted that bill nicely.

“There are several key benefits we have immediately noted from using the system. This includes easy access to records, available immediately, so no more waiting, instead clinicians can do real-time recording as they go about their rounds. It means the data is more accurate and clinicians can spend more time with patients and less time in the office.”

The project took four months to complete in partnership with the SHA, and will be evaluated with the intention to roll-out the system to other specialties across the trust later this year.

Each clinician received a day of training, and a user group was on hand to ensure it reflected their day-to-day jobs.

Gary Green, manager of the Riding unit, told EHI: "It has made us more efficient, effective and streamlined. It has helped improve communications, standardise documentation and see the complete picture of a client’s care – from in-patient to community care settings.

“As the system is template driven, the clinicians can design the way they enter the data in a way that they like reflecting the care pathways and models that these multi-disciplinary teams are used to working to.”

The trust has given all staff access to laptops and say that the shared working means that teams can compare notes using the same system, once they have securely logged in. There is no longer a need to carry papers around and track where records may be.

Wilson said key to the success of the project was the clinical buy-in of the project: “We involved clinicians right from the very start and ensured that the deployed system would reflect their care plans and assessment needs. The buy-in and engagement we had was fantastic and clinicians continue to love this new way of working.”

David Harling, nurse consultant and head of the continuum team that work in the community said: ”It frees up more time for clinicians to care for patients and puts the practitioner directly in touch with real-time information which can lead to more proactive, effective care for our clients.”

Darren Gilraine, CSC account executive for the Yorkshire and The Humber area said: "CSC and our alliance partners TPP and Hedra worked closely with the trust’s corporate development team and with the care practitioners from learning disabilities to ensure that we understood the care pathways for both the in-patient and community elements of the service. We are pleased clinicians are already reaping benefits from the solution."

“We continue to be excited at the different ways that community teams are able to enhance the care of their patients by the flexibility that SystmOne offers. Learning disability services are under increasing pressure to deliver services to their clients we hope that the use of the SystmOne enables them to provide even better care.” said Dr John Parry, clinical director TPP.