Industry news in brief

Our last industry round up for 2018 features news that CHKS has been awarded a new contract in Wales to create a clinical benchmarking and analytics system. Elsewhere online social learning platform FutureLearn has partnered up with Public Health England (PHE).

CHKS awarded Welsh clinical benchmarking and analytics system contract

CHKS has been awarded a new contract for the provision of an all Wales national and Health Board clinical benchmarking and analytics system.

The system, called iCompare, will help NHS organisations in Wales identify areas of good and poor performance with the aim of encouraging the sharing of best practice.

CHKS will also provide training and advice on national and local clinical and operational performance reporting.

Richard Walker, head of information services, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and chair of the All Wales User Group for the Benchmarking Service, said: “Five years ago we signed the first all-Wales benchmarking contract with CHKS and this brought significant benefits for Health Boards in Wales.

“We now have a unified approach to benchmarking and are able to call on expertise from CHKS if, for example, policy makers decide to focus on a specific area of healthcare. The new contract brings with it a new commissioning focus which will help Wales ensure that specialist and out-of-area services are meeting our requirements.”

Allocate acquires vendor management software provider 247 Time

Allocate Software has acquired vendor management software provider 247 Time.

With 247 Time’s vendor management and direct engagement software, Allocate will now offer a choice of solutions that either can operate independently or as an end-to-end solution for the management of clinical staff sourced via agencies or employed directly.

Software company, Allocate, hope the move will help the company’s strategy to develop an interoperable ecosystem of solutions and partners to further increase the benefits of Allocate’s core Optima platform, including its HealthRoster and HealthMedics solutions.

Nick Wilson, Allocate Software CEO, said: “This is an important addition to Allocate and a key element in ensuring that our solutions meet the diverse and demanding workforce needs of the healthcare sector.

“This is a very natural extension for us, bringing functionality that our customers have asked us to add. The 247 Time solutions together with our partnership approach will allow us to empower our customers with choice, ensuring they have an option that is right for them.”

FutureLearn partners with Public Health England

Online social learning platform FutureLearn has partnered up with Public Health England (PHE) to make global health education more easily available to international audiences.

The partnership will combine PHE’s recognised expertise in global health protection and FutureLearn’s leading social learning platform to teach people across the world lessons that could save lives.

Nigel Silman, senior business development manager at PHE, said: “I am very excited by this opportunity. Our education and training courses are available in face-to-face learning environments, and this will continue, but the digital platform offered by FutureLearn will enable many more people to access training to support the vital health protection work they do across the globe.”

FutureLearn will now host PHE’s public health sector and microbiology courses online, which includes content from Health Education England and the NHS Leadership Academy.

Virtualstock partners up with 1WorldSync

Virtualstock has signed a partnership with 1WorldSync that enables users of its digital supply chain platform to access the Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN) directly.

The GDSN is a standard process for suppliers to exchange detailed product information, helping to improve data quality, ensure accuracy and foster a more effective procurement process.

1WorldSync provides direct access to the GDSN, enabling automated data validation against the NHS requirements and analysis of gaps in the data.

The partnership will enable suppliers to publish directly to the GDSN using Virtualstock’s Edge4Health Product Information Management (PIM) system, ensuring compliance and removing the need for suppliers to invest in a separate GDSN access point.

James Thirkill, Virtualstock’s vice president and general manager of healthcare and public sector, said: “We know that data accuracy is key to safe and reliable healthcare delivery in the UK so we have always put data quality at the heart of The Edge4Health. This exciting partnership with 1WorldSync is the next step in our continued focus on ensuring efficiency and supporting compliance across the NHS”.