Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has awarded iSOFT a contract, under the Additional Supply Capability and Capacity (ASCC) framework, for a system to help improve performance, efficiency and care at Stafford Hospital's emergency department.
The move follows a review which identified the need to improve operational, business and clinical performance in A&E. Proven at 20 other NHS hospitals, iSOFT's EDIS solution gives the trust functions for triage, patient tracking and clinical documentation, enabling clinical staff to monitor patients' treatment and exact status in real time.
In time it will eliminate casualty cards in line with the trust's drive to become paperless. Better management of workloads will help cut waiting times and ready access to patient and clinical information will help with clinical decisions so improving patient care and outcomes.
The trust's director of IM&T, Martin Spotswood, says a key aim is to ensure that every patient attending the emergency department is either admitted, transferred or discharged within the national waiting time targets.
"It will help us in our efforts to achieve compliance with the new Care Quality Indicators, which we see as a key indicator of our commitment to good patient care and also provide us with the necessary reporting tools to accurately measure these improvements.
"Being able to track and locate patients within the department at all times will be a major asset and lead to an improved patient experience," he added.
Stafford opted for an ASCC procurement because of an urgent need for a new emergency system. The trust began the process in May and plans to have the system in place before the end of the year. "The ASCC framework gave us a shortlist of accredited suppliers and pre-written contracts, so was easily the fastest route, which was vital in meeting our aggressive timescale," Spotswood said. "It also enabled us to capitalise on the buying power of the NHS and negotiate a favourable deal."
He says the decision was clinically-driven and that iSOFT's EDIS solution was the "clinicians' system of choice".
A CSC company, iSOFT is Mid Staffordshire's incumbent IT partner. Martin Spotswood said: "Our confidence that iSOFT could deliver within the very demanding timescale was key."
"Winning the contract in open competition is especially satisfying as it clearly demonstrates the strength of our product, the value of our service and that we remain cost competitive," said Adrian Stevens, managing director of iSOFT's UK and Ireland business.
The five-year deal includes iSOFT's electronic document management solution so paper records can be scanned and stored electronically for easier retrieval, which Spotswood says is again part of the trust's "paper-light" agenda.
Stafford Hospital's emergency department dealt with 74,000 cases last year.
Related news articles:
- iSOFT's Profile
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