Epsom implements Harris portal

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust is implementing a clinical portal from Harris Healthcare and clinicians are speaking about the project at EHI Live today.

As part of the clinically-led project, staff are also working with Harris to develop an electronic whiteboard for A&E to give patients a real-time view of patient information.

Dr Amir Hassan, an emergency medicine consultant at the trust, said that as A&Es are under pressure to treat patients as quickly and effective as possible, having the right information available at the right time, is crucial.

“The ED whiteboard and clinical portal will allow us to work effectively by integrating the systems that we already have into one single view, therefore streamlining the clinician’s workflow and ensuring the best possible care for the patient,” he said.

The aim of the clinical portal is to ensure all information about the patient is brought together in one place, without having to search through several systems and the whiteboard will give clinicians greater visibility of patients and their status.

Paediatric consultant Dr Chloe Johnston said the systems would also be used for reporting.

“On top of the clinical functionality, the solutions provide bespoke reporting capabilities so that the trust can capture additional information about the patients they treat for reporting and targets in order to assist the organisation in meeting mandatory targets set locally and by the government,” she said.

Dr Johnston added that the work is clinically driven and both she and Dr Hassan have been working with Harris to scope the project.

“It is absolutely critical that IT projects have clinical leadership, as the little things that are easily overlooked can often make a huge difference to us and the way we care for our patients,” she said.

“The real test comes when clinicians finally use it for real, but being designed by clinicians for clinicians, we are confident that the system will be a success.”

Clinicians from Epsom and St Helier will be speaking in more detail about the project in the Best practice Showcase Theatre at EHI Live today.