Whittington Hospital completes its GDE Fast Follower programme

Whittington Hospital has completed its Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) Fast Follower programme which has seen the hospital roll out new solutions and digital software being introduced. 

The hospital, which is part of Whittington Health NHS Trust, was a fast follower of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust and this has led the hospital to introducing a number of new digital clinical software solutions following the programme.

This includes System C’s CareFlow Vitals system which has been deployed across all acute wards, boosting patient safety through more accurate monitoring and decision making. It has also introduced Clinical Workspace and Clinical Noting (both System C solutions) across the hospital. Both enable staff to access everything they need with just one set of log-in details, saving hundreds of hours on admin, and freeing staff up to spend more time with patients.

In addition, under the Fast Follower programme, the CareCentric shared care record has been extended to include maternity letters and child health information from Child Health Information Service (CHIS). Plus Patient Flow is being used to facilitate the care journey from pre-admission to discharge, and CareFlow Connect as an eCommunication platform for staff.

Sam Barclay, CCIO at Whittington Health NHS Trust, said:  “When we embarked on this journey, it was about far more than the products and solutions. We were signing up for whole system change for the better, safer care of the patients that we serve.

“It is clinical transformation that is digitally enabled. We’re now able to securely access and communicate patient details faster and easier, with the help of platforms like CareFlow Connect and Workspace. It has enabled us to adopt a more holistic view of the people that we’re treating, so we can provide them with the best management plan possible.”

The Fast Follower programme was launched at the NHS Innovation Expo in Manchester in 2017, supported by funding from NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care.

Following successful completion of the programme, the Whittington Hospital is now focused on the next phase of its digital strategy. This includes rolling out CareFlow Connect in the community, further enriching CareCentric with documents from other systems and the imminent go-live of Patient Portal. It will also be deploying the CareFlow Medicines Management closed loop module. Whittington Health is also one of the very first trusts to implement System C’s CareFlow EPR solution, which launched this week.

Barclay continued: “The programme has worked very well for us. We have learned from Bristol, and they have learned from us.

“We have also been approached by several others within the System C partners network that want to learn how we have implemented elements of our digital strategy, and – in turn – we have learned things from them. There has been an extraordinary amount of information and knowledge sharing. We’re looking forward to fostering those relationships as we continue to pursue digital excellence, with the aim of providing exceptional care, quality, and safety for our patients.”