Dudley Group NHS FT accelerates information sharing platform roll-out

The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust has accelerated the roll-out of an information sharing platform to support its clinicians during the coronavirus outbreak.

The trust is one of the first in the UK to adopt the Allscripts’ dbMotion platform and was planning a full-scale deployment this summer, following internal testing and a proof of concept with local GPs.

When the pandemic arrived, it accelerated its plans and delivered the three to six-month project in just ten-weeks, starting with the data that would most help doctors to treat patients with Covid-19.

This included adding medications information from the IT system used by local GPs and data feeds from the trust’s pathology, imaging, and document management systems.

These developments mean clinicians have access to more information about the medical history of their patients and can quickly access their drug history, past discharge summaries, and notes without having to log-in to many different systems.

Adam Thomas, CIO at the trust, said: “We had the dbMotion platform in place, but we really accelerated work during the coronavirus outbreak to support clinical decision making earlier in the patient journey.

“During a pandemic, it is vital that clinicians have access to the medical history of their patients, so they can triage them effectively and direct them to the right care.

“Doctors treating Covid-19 patients also need past history, underlying conditions, medicines and allergies to speed treatment decisions. We were able to give them that using dbMotion.”

The Dudley Group went live with Sunrise Acute Care in 2018 and launched its proof of concept for dbMotion with a small number of GP practices at the same time

Next steps for the trust’s digital team include a roll out of Sunrise e-prescribing within its hospitals, the addition of more information feeds to dbMotion, sharing hospital information with GPs via the platform, and creating a patient portal.

Richard Strong, vice president and managing director, EMEA, Allscripts, added: “The Dudley Group’s rapid activation of its dbMotion plans were a good example of how the pace of health tech deployment has increased during the pandemic.”

“The work The Dudley Group has done has not just helped staff through the coronavirus crisis, but put it in a much better position to move forward with information sharing and integrated care agendas as the NHS looks to ‘reset, not just recover’ in the coming months.”