Princess Alexandra picks Cambio

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has signed a ten-year contract with Swedish company Cambio to deploy its electronic patient record system.

The Essex trust aims to have the new system in place next year as its McKesson Totalcare contract expires in March 2014.

The trust went out to tender for an EPR last year and the contract will be for a minimum of ten years.

The OJEU notice said the system should include a patient administration system, A&E system, maternity information system, order communications and results reporting, e-prescribing, and a clinical portal including patient and community access.

The trust has chosen to add electronic whiteboard technology and mobile applications to the initial implementation.

It may also expand the scope of its work to include the management of community care in partnership with local GPs.

According to a finance report presented to the trust board in February, the Princess Alexandra expects that the EPR project will be one of its biggest expenses during the next financial year.

It says that £3m of the trust’s total £9m capital expenditure has been budgeted for the system.

The trust hopes the Cosmic system will change the way it works and improve clinical outcomes and cost benefits.

“Viewing this as a transformation programme versus an IT programme, the trust is keen to see that key skills are transferred from the supplier in order that the trust can take full ownership of the solution and evolve it as required to meet future needs,” says a chief executive’s report.

“Therefore a considerable number of the EPR team members will be seconded from existing staff to drive and champion the new ways of working.

“The programme will also be supported by full time clinical secondments rather than part time to ensure availability and commitment to the programme.”

The trust will be the first UK trust to implement Cambio’s EPR after Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust cancelled its deployment of Cosmic last year.

The trust signed a contract to deploy the system in 2010, but after spending nearly £800,000 with the company to develop the product for the UK, it decided to cancel the contract.

Anthony Lundrigan, PAH chief information officer said: “Our executive team and board have invested a great deal of time and effort in developing an effective long-term information technology strategy that will help us to effect the kind of transformational change we need to see in the future if we are to deliver continuous improvements in patient care.

“To help us implement this strategy we were looking for a supplier with a single platform solution that could offer us a long-term partnership approach,” he explained.

“Having thoroughly assessed the market, we selected Cambio – both for their proven ability to meet our short-term needs and their joint commitment to delivering results throughout the ten-year life of the deal.”

Cambio’s UK managing director Philip May said the partnership with Princess Alexandra demonstrates the need for the NHS to replace outdated systems with much more capable modern platforms.

He added that it also demonstrated the importance of taking a long-term approach to driving transformational change throughout an organisation.

“We believe that it is only by forming an effective partnership between trusts and their technology providers that the NHS will be able to fully realise much-needed efficiency gains,” he said.