ISOFT dies but new CSC approach is born

The iSOFT brand was formally retired last week and the company, now part of CSC’s healthcare group, took the opportunity to unveil a more flexible, agile approach to the use of its products.

Speaking at the opening of a new demonstration suite at the company’s Banbury headquarters, solutions director for NEMEA, Nick Harte, said the products would offer “bridges to a future electronic patient record” or help customers to sweat their existing assets by supplementing them with smart solutions.

This strategic approach was outlined to eHealth Insider by UK managing director Adrian Stevens in November 2010, when he announced that a 75-strong development team had been engaged to work on interoperability, business intelligence, medications management and hosted Synergy [a primary care system].

Stevens stressed that this more agile approach would run in tandem with the company’s commitment to its electronic patient record, Lorenzo, which CSC has been developing and trying to deploy across the North, Midlands and East of England as part of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

“This is right strategy for us as a company. Of course we want people to take Lorenzo, but they don’t have to,” Stevens said then.

The message was the same last week. Harte said that Lorenzo Regional Solution (LRS) was installed in ten hospitals, including hospitals in University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust.

“Customers are delighted,” he said, adding that Morecambe Bay was starting to encourage visits to show progress.

An LRS demo in the new suite showed a set of features including a complete view of patients developed for consultants and the patient journey through A&E to ward and discharge.

But there was an alternative approach on view, too, with “augmentation opportunities” for healthcare organisations using existing CSC products such as iCM and iPM.

UltraGenda, CSC’s scheduling system, was shown working in iPM and there was a promise of more to come, including the Bluebird Clinical Desktop.

Stevens said: “The suite is an important part of our drive to involve customers in helping shape our strategy and product roadmaps.

“Our e-prescribing and e-whiteboard products are prime examples of recent customer collaborations to create solutions that meet a real need and deliver genuine benefits.

“It is a perfect setting for conveying our vision of the future of healthcare technology and that the journey with us is one worth making.”

The suite was officially unveiled by Peter Allen, CSC president of global sales and marketing. Existing CSC customers should contact their account manager if they would like to visit. Harte said others were welcome to contact CSC directly.