System C goes live in Isle of Man hospitals
- 14 January 2008
System C has completed installation of its MedWay patient management system in two hospitals on the Isle of Man, less than nine months after the contract was awarded.
The integrated systems went live on the exact date agreed with the Isle of Man at the outset of the contract and without any contract change notices. It forms the first part of an electronic patient record system for the Isle of Man.
System C was awarded a £7.5m contract to provide an integrated island-wide healthcare IT service by the Isle of Man Government Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) in March 2007 and completed the first deployments on schedule in November.
Both the main Nobles Hospital, Braddan, and the smaller Ramsay Cottage Hospital have now gone live with the MedWay system, which offers advanced PAS functionality including live bed state support, flexible multi-disciplinary scheduling and integrated extended clinical functionality such as A&E, theatres, radiology and maternity.
DHSS director of strategic information and development, Paul Harper, told E-Health Insider: “This new system updates the previous legacy system we had and gives us the systems we need to deliver effective care in the 21st century. It will provide authorised clinicians with updated data in real time, and soon data sharing between GPs and hospital consultants.
“All this is building up to our overall plan to provide a fully integrated Clinical Care Support Service (CCSS) serving all care settings and eventually integrating with the NHS Care Records Service in England.”
Discussions are underway with Connecting for Health to ensure that the system meets the requirements to be compatible with systems being installed in England under the National Programme for IT.
Harper said: “Compatibility with CfH is very important to us as many of our 80,000 population go to North West England for treatment and having updated notes is essential for everyone involved in a patient’s treatment. Also, we have an influx of tourists every year and the Isle of Man TT motorbike races attract people, some of whom will need urgent treatment on this island.”
System C’s chief executive officer, Ian Denley, told EHI: “This is the first part of the electronic patient record we are working on in the Isle of Man and the deployment has gone very well. Systems are complex to get in, and so it is a great achievement that we managed to get MedWay installed and had over 1300 users trained on time and to schedule. The hospital staff should be proud of this achievement as well.”
A key part of the project was a complex programme of business change across a number of operational services in Nobles Hospital. Support work for staff is ongoing as the team continues to refine business processes in response to feedback from staff and patients.
Sue Jones, service development director at System C and programme director for the project, said: “These systems are complex to install and require a real partnership between suppliers and the health service teams. The people on the ground have responded magnificently and we are delighted with their contribution and with the relationships we have built.”
The system includes integrated links to hospital legacy systems using Orion’s Rhapsody integration engine and plans are in progress for more new system installations across the island in 2008.
System C says it will be active in 2008 and deploying new systems across the Isle of Man, including ambulance systems, pharmacy and other clinical systems. It will be using RiO for mental health and is working with other providers to ensure compatibility between the MedWay system and any additional systems under a ‘best of breed’ approach.
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Joe Fernandez
