SystmOne Improving Processes at First Practice in North West

Swan Lane Medical Centre went live on SystmOne in September 2008, achieving two SystmOne 'firsts' - the first practice in the North West to Go Live, and the first practice to move from the Healthysoft system to SystmOne.

L-R: Jane Waters, Pam Miller, Rachel Carr, Ann Czajkowski, Pat Ogden, Michelle Aspinall, Janine Bainbridge.

Practice Manager, Jane Waters, explains why the practice wanted to move: "We were concerned about the lack of development in the system we were using, and in its long-term viability. We wanted to use a system that was in line with the National Programme for IT so that we could benefit from the NHS Spine and other schemes like the IM&T DES."

Dr Ian Caldwell agrees: "Our priorities were to move to an accredited system that we knew would be developed according to national requirements, had long-term viability and stability, and that would pull our own data across consistently and in its original code format. Our biggest concern was the integrity of the data, and we are confident that it has come across well. We have got used to SystmOne fairly quickly - we are happy with it and are using it day-to-day with no major issues."

TPP Trainer, Ed Parry, with admin staff

Being not only the first practice in the area, but also the first to move from Healthysoft to SystmOne, were the staff nervous about the move? "Not at all," says Jane. "We had a lot of reassurance from TPP about the data   migration process. Since going live, it's been great to chat to other Healthysoft Practice Managers and realise that the issues they have around their clinical system are no longer there for us. I feel very proud to have actively sought out and implemented a solution to our problem."

"There are lots of things I like about SystmOne," says Jane. "It provides the practice with much more data than was available in our old system, for example, greater audit trails. I like the way that recalls are dealt with, and I particularly like being able to add notes to prescriptions for any group of patients. The doctors like the visual Clinical Tools and being able to see changes to patients' addresses from the Spine."

Reception staff at Swan Lane

Jane continues: "At the moment, we're taking part in the Big Bolton Health Check, which means assessing everyone over 45 for their CVD risk, then providing lifestyle advice. As part of this, we have a Health Trainer based at our practice."

Janine Bainbridge, Health Trainer, says, "When we were using our old system, it took ages to work out CVD risk and add it to a record. We had to go onto a website and select from different drop-down lists. If you got one option wrong, the calculation would be wrong. With SystmOne, it's so easy. We've assessed 90% of our over-45s now."

Despite being the first in the area to use SystmOne, Swan Lane has already seen a GP to GP transfer from another SystmOne practice - something the staff had never experienced before. Jane says: "All the information was there straightaway. It was great!"

The move to a more modern clinical system brought to light some areas which required a change to business processes. SystmOne's stringent prescribing controls meant that fewer members of staff could prescribe controlled drugs. Jane says, "We've had to tighten our protocols and change the way we work with repeat prescriptions. From a clinical perspective, that's a positive thing. We've now got a dedicated repeat prescribing clerk and that has helped us."

Chris Russ, Assistant Director for IM&T, Bolton PCT, says, "When I first saw SystmOne, I was impressed with its look and feel, it seemed easy to navigate and use and performed well as a centrally managed application. A recent visit to TPP has also impressed me, I met some very enthusiastic people and I found the company to be well organised. Our remaining Healthysoft practices have made limited progress with the IM&T DES and the NPfIT programme. If they wished to consider SystmOne as an alternative system, then I would be happy to discuss this with them."