Healthcare IT news in brief

Trust deployments

Yeovil Hospital to launch online booking

Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has signed a contract with DrDoctor to enable its patients to book, amend or cancel an appointment online, and to receive email and text reminders about their appointments. Simon Lilley, the commercial director of the hospital, said it wanted to move away from paper and phone-based communication with patients and, eventually, to create a digital portal through which they would be able to “manage all their health and care needs.”

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust works with AppSense

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust used AppSense DesktopNow to roll-out Windows 7 across thousands of desktops and has cut logon times from several minutes to 15 seconds. “AppSense allowed us to deliver a much more personalised experience to each user, while simplifying policy and application management,” said Rachel Dunscombe, Bolton’s chief information officer.

North Midland hospitals use Twinkle.NET

The University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust has upgraded its paediatric diabetes care management database to Twinkle.NET, the web-based solution from healthcare IT provider, Hicom. Additional functionalities include the ability to automatically update and view patient records remotely, as well as on the hospital grounds, and automatically download test results; with all of this securely done in real-time.

Insignia begins image migration with Royal Berkshire

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has begun one of the largest image migrations to take place in the UK – including more than 2.8 million studies and 140 million images – working with Insignia Medical Systems. The company has previously migrated 213 million images and 3.4 million studies at United Lincolnshire NHS Trust, 150 million images at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and 2.8m studies at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

St George’s University Hospitals signs extension with WiFi SPARK

St George’s University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has re-signed for a further two years of service from WiFi SPARK. The company has worked with St George’s IT Services department for the past five years to upgrade the necessary IT infrastructure with support from Samuel’s Children’s Charity. The latest renewal includes the creation of a ‘Kidz Zone’ where free, IWF filtered internet access is provided to paediatric wards.

Industry launches

TPP releases Sepsis Protocol

TPP has launched a GP sepsis screening and action tool protocol for GPs using SystmOne. It uses information and data recorded in the SystmOne patient record to assess whether a patient has suspected sepsis. If information suggestive of sepsis is recorded, the protocol will automatically launch and prompt for the recording of other vital clinical information. It reminds the clinician to follow guidance provided by the UK Sepsis Trust for the early identification and management of sepsis.