Taunton and Somerset select Alcidion to provide e-observations

Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has agreed a deal with Australia’s Alcidion to provide electronic observations and vital signs.

Using the company’s Patientrack solution, the Global Digital Exemplar trust will digitise how patients’ vital signs and observations are captured at the bedside to ensure early warning scores are accurately and automatically calculated.

The solution will also ensure clinicians, nurses and other appropriate healthcare professionals are alerted when patients are at risk of deterioration so that they can intervene earlier.

Samantha Sellick, deputy CNIO at the trust, said: “Clinicians will have visibility of patient observations and trends wherever they are in the hospital; previously this would only have been accessible on paper at the patient’s bedside.

“We have a multidisciplinary team working on the implementation, with clinical leadership to transform the way we record and view observations.

“As an NHS Global Digital Exemplar, we will be sharing our learning with other organisations. Plus, we have worked collaboratively with Alcidion to ensure that the Patientrack solution has been tailored to the trust’s needs.”

After an initial go-live of electronic observations, the trust will use Patientrack for a progressive deployment of electronic patient assessments including sepsis, neurological, neurovascular, weight and Bristol Stool assessments.

The solution will interoperate with other hospital systems to deliver vital information where it is needed.

Stuart Hill, deputy CCIO at the trust, said: “Electronic observations and assessments are vital to the trust’s digital priorities which fits our GDE programme blueprint to advance the use of digitally-enabled care.

“We chose Alcidion’s Patientrack solution because of its proven impact across other NHS organisations to enhance patient safety through digital technology. It will make essential information on patients at risk of deterioration much more mobile for our clinicians, who will benefit quickly from this solution which is planned to be deployed over the coming months.”

Donald Kennedy, UK general manager at Alcidion, added: “This fast implementation shows what can be done when NHS hospitals and responsive technology providers work together.

“This best of suite approach to digital transformation is about delivering tangible benefits in patient safety to frontline NHS staff quickly in a trust that is looked to across England, and further afield, as an example of digital excellence.”