Leading software provider, Advanced Health & Care (Advanced) has won a major contract with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust), one of the UK's largest mental health trusts, following a formal tendering process. The contract forms part of the Trust's large scale IT modernisation strategy, which will place the organisation to the forefront of NHS IT, creating a new standard for healthcare.
Advanced will provide Carenotes, a next generation electronic patient information system to support the Trust's delivery of integrated mental health services. The system will be used by 5,000 staff across all of the Trust's clinical pathways and will be rolled out over the next two years. The five year contract has the potential to be extended to 10 years.
The Trust provides NHS mental health, learning disability, substance misuse and prison healthcare services to more than 100,000 patients across Sussex, Kent, South London and Hampshire.
Carenotes will replace systems the Trust has been using for more than 15 years. The new system will be faster and more intuitive, saving costs and increasing efficiencies in addition to enabling staff to spend more quality time with patients. The Trust's data will be available in real time and will interface seamlessly with the Summary Health Care record and legacy systems.
Clinicians will have immediate access to these records via mobile devices so they can be updated and reviewed at any time. Managers will be able to see all information to support efficient and safe clinical processes and commissioners will be able to view up-to-date service activity information, to support decisions. In the long term patients will be able to access a summary of their own care record online.
Dr. Kay Macdonald, Clinical Academic Director, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Our partnership with Advanced Health & Care is a significant step forward for the Trust which will improve our healthcare delivery. The new system will securely capture relevant data given to us by service users and the staff who are caring for them.
"Clinical staff have been closely involved in selecting the patient information system, which is both of high quality and cost-effective. Carenotes is robust, innovative, and flexible enough to meet the demands of the different types of services we provide."
Advanced competed with several other software providers to win the contract following a thorough tendering process. The contract is the fourth win for Advanced in the NHS community and mental health space with a further 50 contracts expected to come up for renewal between 2014 and 2016.
Jim Chase, Managing Director, Advanced Health & Care said: "We are very pleased to be working with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to deliver a new and improved EPR solution which will play a significant part in placing them at the forefront of NHS health delivery.
"Advanced takes a partnership approach to helping trusts improve information sharing, patient empowerment and workforce mobilisation. I’m confident that, with our support, this Trust will transform care provision in Sussex and the surrounding areas."
Advanced Health & Care, a division of Advanced Computer Software Group, is one of the fastest growing suppliers of leading IT solutions supporting 1,500 'out of hospital', community care provider organisations in the NHS, local government, third-sector and private sector.
About Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides NHS mental health, specialist learning disability and substance misuse services across and beyond Sussex.
About Advanced Health & Care
Advanced Health & Care (Advanced) is a leading provider of IT management systems for adult and children’s community, mental health, hospice, home and residential care services, as well as urgent and unscheduled care and clinical call centres.
Advanced focuses on providing innovative mobile IT applications for community based care, supporting tens of thousands of care workers and clinicians with integrated phone, software and airtime solutions.
Working with partners in the NHS, local government and the private sector, Advanced offers IT solutions in support of safe, efficient care delivery with integrated management information. Advanced's unique proposition is its range of integrated care solutions offering visibility of information for both the commissioner and care provider.