31 July 2007
in NMEPfIT Benefiting Patients and Health Staff in Northamptonshire
A Northamptonshire GP practice has become the 600th GP Practice to benefit
from SystmOne - an IT system that will eventually see patients requiring
only one electronic patient record for all their healthcare provision throughout
their lifetime.
SystmOne is being implemented locally for Northamptonshire Teaching Primary
Care Trust (PCT) by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). SystmOne is one
of a number of systems that are being installed for use by doctors and nurses
in hospitals; paramedics on ambulances and clinicians who work in the community.
The system is already benefiting 540 district nurses, physiotherapists and
other community clinicians throughout Northamptonshire, who are using the
community system to streamline and share patient information.
The Earls Barton Medical Centre – the 600th practice in the country to
have SystmOne installed - is a single-handed GP practice that provides care for
around 6,000 people in the village and surrounds of Earls Barton.
Practice Manager, Stephen Blackman says that they are already seeing the benefits
of moving to this national integrated system: “We saw a patient transfer
to our practice from one of the other 600 practices and immediately the entire
patient’s full medical record was available to us on our system. This meant
our doctor was able to know the patient’s full clinical history and the
patient was assured that no medical details had been lost.
“Although we were already on an electronic system, we knew it was the right
decision for us. As a dispensing practice we were concerned we would lose the
bar-code dispensing facility from our current system. However, we mentioned this
to the supplier (CSC) and they developed this module and we became the first
practice to have this available to us in the country. This has allowed us to
monitor and cross check all drugs dispensed.
“We now have a facility that allows our patients to check themselves in
using a touch screen terminal at the surgery reception. This allows them to arrive,
book themselves in and then take a seat without the need to queue at the desk.
“Obviously, there is never a good time to change from one system to another
but we learnt enough about the benefits to us and our patients to know that it
was the right decision.”
As well as benefiting GP practices, benefits for both patients and staff include:
• Better patient information sharing with other GP practices, PCT community
health staff and acute health trusts
• Protection from any natural disasters for example during the recent floods,
patient information would have been held electronically in secure off-premises
data centres.
• Management and support from the PCT. Plans are being made to use the system
for the Out of Hours service in Northamptonshire ensuring continuity of clinician
access to vital patient information 24/7.
• Integration with the NHS National Programme for IT so that other programmes
such as Choose and Book and electronic prescribing would be easily accessible.
Phil Hurd, Head of Information Management and Technology at Northamptonshire
Teaching PCT says: “The new system introduced at Earls Barton Practice
and to the 540 clinical staff throughout Northamptonshire is part of the PCT’s
IT strategy to implement the NHS National Programme for IT. These systems are
compatible with each other and therefore allow vital information to be shared
securely by health professionals involved in a patient’s treatment. The
PCT is committed to this IT programme as it brings very real benefits to patients.”
