Digital Health’s monthly roundup of contracts and go lives

The latest roundup of contracts and go lives features news from The Christie NHS Foundation Trust which has looked to Better for a new digital health platform as well as three more NHS trusts opting to use a clinical support tool from Wolters Kluwer.

Berkshire Healthcare goes live with Servelec solution

Most recently – we reported on how Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with a digital bed management solution from Servelec, replacing several paper-based systems in the process.

The Flow solution has been implemented for use for more than 500 inpatient staff across the mental health and community wards. Clinicians can enter discharge information directly, identify requests for other hospital services and see patient indicators summarising conditions, treatments and healthcare reviews.

This information is shown on digital touchscreens in real time, so all admitted patients can be tracked by their current status and location. The solution is also fully integrated with the trust’s existing Rio electronic patient record (EPR) from Servelec. This creates a joined-up view of the patient record and ensures that all systems have the same information. Not only does this remove the risk of errors being entered, but it also saves time on the duplication of information.

Christie looks for a Better solution

September has also seen The Christie NHS Foundation Trust select Better to provide a digital health platform that will support the modernisation of its electronic health record.

It is hoped that the move will result in clinical, patient and cancer research services being transformed.

The new openEHR will provide the trust with access to real time data which will be used to support its plans for transformation and its ambition to access the potential of data in health and care. Longer-term plans include to integrate the platform with other applications into the vendor neutral data layer.

NHS Wales extends e-scheduling pilot with Malinko

NHS Wales had some contract news this month as it extended its pilot of e-scheduling software to all of Wales’ community healthcare professionals.

Healthcare professionals can use Malinko’s mobile app to access their visit lists, moving away from paper or spreadsheet-based systems. The technology allows for the intelligent scheduling of staff by matching clinical skills with individual patients’ needs.

Visits are scheduled by Malinko based on clinical priorities and travel routes are optimised to minimise travel time as much as possible. A live visit status board and staff safeguarding board also ensures real-time tracking of nurses while attending their visits.

The system has been designed to complement Electronic Care Record systems and the software is aligned with an organisation’s own clinical rules so patient care is delivered optimally and caseloads are assigned safely.

Great North Care Record expands to children’s community services

On the topic of expansions – North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust revealed this month that it has expanded the services that share data via the Great North Care Record to include children’s community services.

The move will help healthcare professionals and anyone involved in delivering care to children in the area, to better understand a child’s need and ensure they’re working efficiently and able to make informed decisions.

For parents of the young patients, it means that any healthcare professional they come into contact with will have the information they need, without requiring parents to repeat it. Professionals will also be able to minimise any potential delays as much of the information they need will have already been collected and is available to them.

Three NHS trusts select Wolters Kluwer for clinical decision tool

Finally, and taking us right back to the start of September, we reported on how Wolters Kluwer Health has expanded its presence in the UK as three more NHS trusts have opted to use its clinical decision tool.

UpToDate is an evidence-based knowledge system that helps clinicians make the right decisions at the point of care. It gives clinicians access to peer-reviewed treatment recommendations and the latest best-practice guidance for more than 12,000 clinical topics and 9,500 graded recommendations.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust have all opted to use the solution. They join seven NHS trusts which deployed UpToDate during the Covid-19 pandemic.