Birmingham Women’s gets Lorenzo go-ahead

Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust has had its business case to deploy the advanced bed management functionality of Lorenzo approved by the CSC LSP Programme Board.

The programme board meets monthly to consider trust business cases for taking CSC’s electronic patient record system.

Under a deal between CSC and the government, trusts in the North, Midlands and East of England can get central funding for software and deployment support if they choose to take Lorenzo.

A Department of Health spokesperson told EHI that the board meetings are not open to the public, but the DH is intends to publish the minutes.

“Only robust business cases that demonstrate improved care for patients and value for money are approved by the board,” the spokesperson added.

CSC was the local service provider for the NME under NPfIT, but a renegotiation of its contract last year removed the company’s exclusive rights.

Birmingham Women’s became the third ‘early adopter’ of Lorenzo under NPfIT when it went live with the care management and clinical documents modules of the system in 2010.

However, the trust refused to sign-off on its deployment of Lorenzo because it was not satisfied with the level of functionality delivered.

EHI reported in November 2011 that it had paused further implementation of the system while it reassessed its benefits. However, a trust spokesperson told EHI this week that it is continuing with the implementation process.

“We have been working with our CSC partners to resolve any issues and the trust is currently realising the benefits of the modules that have been implemented as anticipated,” said the spokesperson.

“We are continuing to deploy Lorenzo functionality within the trust. So far we have implemented clinical documents, care management and care plans. Bed management is the next deployment which will be going live this year. “

The trust also plans to roll out results reporting and e-prescribing in the next financial year.

Another early adopter, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, recently asked the government to synchronise the contracts for all Lorenzo sites because the trust will deploy the maternity and e-prescribing modules of Lorenzo after the national contract renegotiation was agreed last year.

The Birmingham Women’s spokesperson said the trust has not determined out how its new module will fit in with its other Lorenzo contract.

“The trust does not manage the contract with CSC and has yet to agree detail on how the current advanced bed management contract fits with other Lorenzo contracts already deployed,” said the spokesperson.

“As an early adopter for the national programme similar to Morecambe Bay, our trust has implemented Lorenzo modules over a planned period of time. This is now different to how future organisations will now deploy the Lorenzo solution.”

Trusts taking the EPR under the revised contract arrangements will need to have every significant module of the EPR signed off by the LSP Programme Board.

The board is chaired by Tim Donohoe, the senior responsible owner for the LSP Programmes and includes representatives from the DH, the Health and Social Care Information Centre and CSC customers, including chief clinical information officer at Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Colin Brown.

“Other senior NHS CEO/CIO level representatives are currently being enlisted to complement the existing membership of the board, to greater reflect its customer base. Senior CSC commercial and operational leads also attend for specific agenda items,” said the DH spokesperson.

Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and The George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust have had their business cases approved by the board.

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Barnsley Hospital NHS Trust, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust have also confirmed their intention to take Lorenzo.

At a recent Public Accounts Committee, it was revealed that £600m has been set aside for NME trusts that choose to take CSC’s system under the new contract.