Darent Valley gets iSoft A&E system

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust has replaced its ten year old Ascribe A&E system with iSoft’s latest A&E system.

The new software, which went live on 6 July as part of a three year contract, can be integrated with the trust’s iSoft hospital information system.

This will allow all clinical staff at its main, 460-bed hospital in Dartford, Kent, to order radiology and pathology tests online.

Leslieann Osborn, the trust’s assistant director of service development, said: “With A&E accounting for 30% of all hospital orders for pathology and radiology tests, it is vital to have reliable order communications. That demands seamless integration of A&E, HIS, pathology and radiology.

“Ordering tests electronically, and being able to see what tests have been ordered, is a huge benefit to doctors, and avoids duplication directly benefiting patient care.”

The system’s functionality has been developed by the trust and iSoft using the company’s ‘agile’ development approach. The company says this halved normal development time to three months.

According to staff, the new A&E system is easier to use and has clearer screens, which speeds up the admissions process and printing of wristbands and labels.

The system will also allow clinical correspondence, discharge notifications and nursing documentation to be provided across all specialities across A&E, inpatient and outpatient care.

The deployment is part of a wider initiative to improve efficiency within A&E at Darent Valley Hospital, where demand is rising and is likely to rise further if plans to close the A&E site at Queen Mary’s Sidcup go ahead.

It also follows a trust decision to start moving towards an electronic patient record system by putting a new server platform under the latest version of iSoft’s PatientCentre patient administration system.

When the trust made the decision, it told E-Health Insider that it had completely ruled out becoming an early adopter for the ‘strategic’ systems to be delivered by the National Programme for IT in the NHS, Cerner Millennium and Lorenzo.

It said it was using money held back for deploying NPfIT technology to invest in the hardware, PAS, and clinical functionality to bridge the gap to an EPR.

Adrian Stevens, managing director of iSoft’s UK and Ireland business, said: “This is further evidence of our continued commitment and ongoing investment in patient and hospital management systems and determination to support our customers’ ambitions and moves to EPR.”