System C launches CareCentric for Medway

System C has launched a version of Graphnet’s CareCentric shared record system designed specifically for its Medway electronic patient record.

The company says the software combines the data collected in Medway and other local systems into a single digital care record that enables acute clinicians to access GP, community, mental health and social care records.

The shared care record can then be accessed across health and social care settings, enabling GPs and care professionals to view their patients’ acute records including results and correspondence.

The Medway version of CareCentric is embedded into the EPR and gives single sign-on access to the wider shared record.

Markus Bolton, the joint chief executive of System C, told EHI the company decided to take its partnership with Graphnet “one step further” and help promote a shared records approach to its trusts.

“The market’s been moving this way for a long time really: all the usual stuff, changing demographics, advances in treatment capability, it’s all been building to a perfect storm for a whole system approach.”

NHS England’s recently released ‘Five Year Forward View’ strategy has also provided added impetus for a move towards integrated care, he said.

“If you look at the Forward View, it really crystallises that view and vision, getting much closer to care communities and integration in care of patients.”

Medway’s work with social care providers means it is “pretty much in a unique position” to join together different settings and encourage acute trusts to adopt shared records, Bolton said.

“A lot of hospitals are using Medway as their core patient management system and core clinical system, so we’re at the heart of what they do, and on that basis we’ve got to get on the front of all the emerging strategies.”

He said the Medway version of CareCentric comes with a pre-defined data set and interfaces to ensure relevant information is drawn from the PAS and clinical modules into the shared record.

The shared record is also tightly integrated into workflows so it can be easily “called up” within Medway in a range of different work settings where access is required.

Bolton said the system has existing data feeds for Emis and INPS primary care systems, meaning GP data can be pulled into the shared record without extra technical work once a data-sharing agreement is shared.

Trusts can also connect to the system via the Medical Interoperability Gateway if they want, he said. Bolton said System C is “making progress” with TPP and hopes to reach an agreement on sharing data soon.

The company is in negotiation with several trusts interested in CareCentric, he added.

Graphnet and System C are separate companies, but both are partly owned by health IT accelerator firm Shearwater Health and private equity firm Symphony Technology Group.

Symphony acquired most of McKesson’s European healthcare software business in June, http://ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/9443/symphony-buys-mckesson-uk-health-ops before appointing Bolton and Dr Ian Denley to lead the new System C business.