Health IT news in brief

This week’s Health IT round-up includes tweaks to e-referral services for GPs and a new order communications system connecting hospitals, GPs, and prisons.

Medway picks Ideagen

Medway NHS Foundation Trust will deploy an Ideagen electronic order communications systems, covering both its hospitals and 70 GP practices that work with the trust.

The deployment will focus on a communication system for radiology and pathology. However, it covers not only the trust but GPs, prisons and other local care providers across Kent.

Chris Stiff, the trust’s IT programme manager, said the software would replace an entirely paper-based system, in which “the opportunity for data entry errors is very high”.

While some radiology and pathology requests from the field, such as those from district nurses, will be still use paper the vast majority would be electronic, he said.

“The Ideagen OCM project will allow us to significantly reduce our data entry error rate and allow for almost all requests to be made and received electronically.”

Medway uses an Allscripts patient administration system.

Civica wins deal with Anchor

Software company Civica has reached a deal with a care home provideR to deploy its workforce management product.

The not-for-profit care provider Anchor has picked Civica’s Coldharbour. The software will be used to track staff attendance, absences, and sicknesses though touch screens and biometric scans.

The provider will deploy the system across 120 residential care homes.

Somerset to use Questback

Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is deploying a new staff communication platform for its 4000 staff across Somerset, Dorset and the Isle of Wight.

The trust will use Questback’s NHS Staff Community product across its 13 community hospitals and eight mental health wards. The platform can host communications, surveys, patient feedback and analysis. Questback is also used at Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust.

New online tool for GP referrals

NHS Digital has tweaked the online feature that GPs use to refer patients. The changes will make more information about referral criteria available to GPs earlier, with the aim of reducing “inappropriate” referrals.

It is part of wide push to get more GPs referring patients electronically. From October, 2018, GPs will only be able to claim payments for referrals made using the NHS e-Referral Service.