Dudley takes Soarian to A&E

Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust has extended its use of Soarian Clinicials to the emergency department at Russells Hall Hospital.

The latest deployment of the Siemens Healthcare methodology and workflow engine comes 12 years into an 18-year IT services agreement signed between the two organisations.

It also comes after the trust redesigned its A&E patient pathways, using LEAN techniques.

Paperless processes have been implemented to support the redesign, including improved patient tracking, faster electronic referrals and test ordering for radiology and pathology, and electronic documents and communications between the A&E team.

“The installation of Soarian marks a significant shift for the department, as staff move away from using pen and paper to a digital solution,” said Dr Rajan Paw, consultant emergency physician and medical head of service at Russells Hall.

“We are already starting to benefit from efficiencies since going live with the system, especially with regards to better patient tracking, the retrieval of information such as e-referrals, and the ability to order online radiology and pathology tests.”

Dudley Group is the UK reference site for Siemen’s Soarian Clinicals, which it is using to pursue a long-term strategy of becoming paperless.

Soarian Clinicals is already used in the hospital for patient results and access to picture archiving and communications system images, and some electronic ordering.

The latest deployment includes the installation of an electronic tracking board, or single screen that shows the status of patients in A&E, and gives clinicians access to results, triage assessments, and their progress through the department.

The trust has also upgraded its wireless infrastructure so that staff can access the system using proximity cards and mobile clinical tablets, which allow staff to view and update patient data from anywhere in the department, including patient cubicles.

Garry Marshall, IT services manager at Siemens Healthcare, described the installation as a “landmark” for both the hospital and the company.

“Clinical input, in conjunction with an integrated clinical IT solution to manage assessments, referrals, results, discharge letters and performance data has realised the potential of IT,” he said.