Gloucester Hospitals NHS Trust

Hospital doctors and GPs in Gloucestershire are taking advantage of IT software that will enable them to work better together.

Pioneering IT Software delivers patient information in hours

Believed to be the first of its kind in England, the newly installed InfoFlex Information system from Chameleon Information Management Services Ltd (CIMS) collects relevant clinical data and produces a Discharge Summary. The Discharge Summary is then sent via Anglia Healthcare electronically from the hospital directly to the patient’s GP system as soon as the patient is discharged.

Until recently GPs may have waited days to receive information but thanks to the new initiative, a GP is up to date in a matter of hours.

Project Manager Rob Graham says the system was designed to use Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s existing pathology messaging software. He added, “Our department has worked closely with clinicians, Anglia Healthcare and CIMS to create software that can be used easily by our doctors and ward clerks. Thanks to the new technology we aim to issue the vast majority of discharge summaries in one working day which is a significant improvement, and a good example of how IT developments directly support patient care.”

For the new system to work it also had to be compatible with the different software systems used by doctors in Gloucestershire – and for two-thirds of them this meant systems developed by Leeds-based company EMIS.

EMIS developed a module to enable the discharge summaries to be recognised by the communications element of its GP software systems.

Sean Riddell, EMIS managing director, said: “This is a classic example of interoperability – that is where software which has been developed by different parties can work together and communicate with each other. This is vital if information technology is to work in the health service.

“The module we have developed enables the discharge summaries from the Trust to be understood and accepted by the doctors’ own system and we’re delighted to have played a part in this important project. The new scheme took a year to design and implement, with full involvement from Consultants and GPs, who favoured the paperless solution.

“For a long time we’ve wanted to improve the way we communicate with GPs,” explained Consultant Paediatrician Dr Miles Wagstaff who was involved in the implementation of the new software. “At the moment, we do not always tell GPs promptly when their patient is discharged unless there are special circumstances. This sometimes means the transition of care isn’t as smooth as we would like it to be.

“We’ve worked with GPs on this new software and believe it will make a real difference to patient care.”

Gloucestershire GP, Charles Buckley added, “Although we have very good relationships with hospital doctors, finding out when our patient was discharged and with what drugs can be time consuming. Improving our communication channels can only be a good thing and it will be the patient that feels the real benefit.”

The new discharge summaries system has been running in three hospital departments since November and will be used throughout Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal Hospitals by March 2007.

For further information, please contact Akofa Wallace, Communications Officer on 08454 224722 or email: [email protected]

Statement from Marc Warburton, Chief Executive of Chameleon Information Management Systems Limited

"We are delighted at the progress made within the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on the Discharge Summaries project.

The system will have approximately 1000 pc’s utilising InfoFlex , enabling GP’s to receive appropriate clinical data electronically, minutes after the patient has been discharged from hospital.

We have worked with the Gloucestershire Project team and other suppliers to provide an IT solution to meet the Trust’s desire to improve the flow of information between hospital doctors and GPs.

We look forward to working with suppliers of GP systems in order to provide similar solutions to other Trusts, be they existing users of InfoFlex or not."

InfoFlex is installed in some 80 NHS Trusts across the UK.

Posted on: Monday, 12th March 2007
Return to: latest news or archive for March 2007