Tameside live with Lorenzo

Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust went live with its Lorenzo electronic patient record system today.

The trust is the first to deploy the system under an interim deal agreed between CSC and the Department of Health in September 2012.

Tameside’s chairman Paul Connellan said the go-live has gone well and that it is good news for patients.

“The system will ensure better patient care by notifying medical staff of any issues in timing or drugs that need attention,” he said.

“In addition it will enable direct communication with GP records, where the patient permits this, which will give doctors a much more comprehensive view of all issues affecting the patient.”

Tameside was the first to sign a contract for Lorenzo last September under the new interim agreement, which removed CSC’s exclusive contract as IT provider in the North, Midlands and East of England.

The deal gives NME trusts central funding for software and deployment costs if they can provide a robust business case for deploying the system.

In preparation for the go-live, Tameside has scheduled 25,000 outpatient appointments using Lorenzo and transferred more than 5m data items relating to patient records.

EHI reported last month that the trust has spent more than £2.3m in implementation costs so far.

Tameside’s interim chief executive, Karen James, said that Lorenzo is a part of the trust’s five year ‘Digital by Design’ strategy to transform the way it deals with patients.

“The progress we are making through implementing our Digital by Design strategy is part of our response to the Keogh Review. Better patient record keeping, information sharing and bed management is vital to improving patient care,” she said.

“We have been working extremely hard over the last few months to prepare for the transition to Lorenzo and are pleased to have achieved our target date for going live."

This is the first deployment of Lorenzo since Humber NHS Foundation Trust went live in May last year, under the old National Programme for IT contract with CSC.

Philippe Houssiau, CSC’s vice president and general manager for healthcare in the UK, said Lorenzo was at the heart of the trust’s plans to improve clinical information flow.

“Having worked closely with the Tameside team to ensure a successful go-live, this next-generation electronic patient record system will support the hospital in improving outcomes for its patients,” he said.

CSC was the local service provider for the NME under NPfIT, but after deployments were delayed and the fourth ‘early adopter’ of the system pulled out in 2011, the company was locked in renegotiations of its contract.

Eight trusts have so far signed up to take the system under its revised agreement, for which the DH has set aside up to £600m in funding.

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust have had business cases approved by the CSC LSP Programme Board to take Lorenzo.

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have also confirmed their intention to take CSC’s EPR.