System C sites have started to submit data to Emergency Care Data Set

System C’s acute hospital sites have begun to submit data to the new national Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS).

The company believes it is the first IT system supplier to have “deployed, integrated and automated” ECDS reporting within its patient administration and emergency department solutions.

The first to collect and submit ECDS data to NHS Digital through System C’s software is said to have been global digital exemplar University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust was next off the block with other hospitals and trusts using System C’s Medway solutions to follow suit over the next few weeks, including Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust.

The ECDS replaces the Accident & Emergency Commissioning Data Set. It was developed over 24 months by NHS Digital, and is designed to provide a more complete picture of emergency attendances at England’s hospitals.

It contains 108 data items, including patient demographics, episode information, clinical information, injury information, and details of referrals and discharge.

A main aim of the ECDS is to support the understanding and management of winter pressures. Trusts with emergency departments are meant to submit data for it from October 2017.

Dr Ian Denley, joint chief executive of System C, said substantial and complex software development had been required to support the new dataset. He reported this had involved changes to both data collection and automated reporting, with reporting frequency increasing to daily.

“This work has been a priority for us, and is part of our ongoing commitment to providing our users with the most up-to-date and comprehensive solutions we can”, Denley said.

“We are particularly pleased to be able to support the NHS in its focus on meeting the increased demands of the winter months”, he added.

System C says a total of 23 organisations use its Medway electronic patient record (EPR). In July, Digital Health News reported that St Helen’s and Knowsley had become the most recent organisation to sign a contract for the system.