As the NHS in all four nations continues preparations to manage winter clinical pressures, two NHS trusts have accelerated deployment of modules of their smart Electronic Patient Record Systems (EPRs), aimed at further improving patient safety in busy clinical settings while introducing efficiencies to streamline patients’ hospital stays.
Both South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust are using Miya Precision, the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based EPR platform developed by Alcidion.
South Tees has now joined Dartford in going live with the Miya Observations and Assessments module (previously known as Patientrack), Alcidion's electronic observations and assessments capabilities. Dartford has also now gone live with Miya Flow, an intuitive journey board that provides clinical staff with access to real-time information on patient status.
Miya Observations includes an early warning system that shares critical information as soon as it is recorded, rather than simply passively capturing a patient’s vital signs on a paper-based bedside chart. The resultant information allows clinical staff to more easily focus on those patients immediately in need, improving patient care. This in turn contributes to a shorter length of hospital stay.
Deployment of this system has been welcomed by the clinical staff on the front line of care as well as the IT staff in the two trusts.
The South Tees experience
Andrew Adair, chief clinical information officer at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, commented: "Miya Observations is just the first component of a clinically responsive transformation programme that will digitise paper processes, join together systems across the trust, and provide the foundations for regional integration."This is far more than a traditional EPR. There is genuine excitement that we are going to leapfrog some of the technologies in other parts of the health service with what we have coming."
Lindsay Garcia, chief nursing information officer and interim deputy chief nurse at South Tees Hospitals, said: "I am excited about introducing Miya Observations, which will work alongside other elements of Miya Precision to deliver dynamic feedback on the patients’ condition to the ward.
"As we go further in our plans around clinical decision support, our new technology will support our brilliant clinicians in making even more improvements for patients in incredibly busy and complex environments. This is the start of transformational change that will have much-needed benefits for both patients and clinicians."
The Dartford and Gravesham experience
Dartford and Gravesham is the first NHS organisation to choose Miya Precision in the UK and the first to roll out Miya Observations and Assessments with Miya Flow.Miya Flow supports the care team in streamlining patient journeys and sharing information via digital patient 'journey boards' - displaying a consolidated view of patient information, key results and tasks to support improved patient flow. The solution was deployed to medical wards in September and rapidly extended to surgical wards in October, providing a whole trust view of real-time patient clinical status including estimated discharge dates.
Neil Perry, chief information officer at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, said: "The Alcidion solution is central to our digital strategy. We are proceeding at pace and believe that Miya Precision is the fastest way for us to achieve a high level of digital maturity. It is also a way for us to move beyond the traditional EPR, to support our clinicians and to make the care we deliver to patients more efficient and safer.
"The journey boards have enabled us to make sure that 100% of our patients have an estimated date of discharge recorded and that helps wards to make sure discharge dates are met, which, in turn, helps to address the huge pressure we are under."
Over the next six months, Dartford is planning to deploy Alcidion’s clinical noting, discharge notes, e-prescribing and clinical decision support. It is also further rolling out its use of Miya Flow as a 'command centre' that will provide full visibility of the bed and patient status to help address winter pressures, across the Trust and Integrated Health Partnership Board.
The trust has also agreed a contract with Alcidion to use Miya Precision to replace the legacy system that it uses to run its diabetes service. This specialist application will expand the use of the platform from inpatients to include outpatient services, where it will also be integrated with the Dartford developing personal health record from Patients Know Best.
Lynette Ousby, managing director at Alcidion, said: "NHS organisations like our customers in South Tees and Dartford and Gravesham have shown that technology can be a power for good in the NHS when it is designed to meet real clinical needs.
"We are incredibly proud to be part of their journeys to improve care with digital transformation. This is ultimately about helping to make it easier to do the right thing for patients, at a time when nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals are working in extremely challenging circumstances. These examples clearly show how effective technology can help the service in meeting those needs, especially at critical times like the imminent winter pressures."
About South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a major trauma centre and the largest hospital trust in the Tees Valley serving the people of Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Hambleton and Richmondshire and beyond. The Trust runs The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton as well as community services in Hambleton and Richmondshire, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland. The Trust has a workforce of around 9,000 providing a range of specialist regional services to 1.5million people in the Tees Valley and parts of Durham, North Yorkshire and Cumbria, with a particular expertise in heart disease, trauma, neurosciences, renal services, cancer services and spinal injuries.
About Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is one of the largest hospital trusts in North Kent, with services at three sites serving a local population of over 500,000 people. Our vision is to be an outstanding hospital Trust providing the best possible care for our patients that is safe, well-coordinated, in the right place and designed around the patient’s needs. Everything we do is guided by our vision and core Trust values.We have a strong focus on innovation and improvement to deliver the best care as possible to our patients. As our local populations are increasing, our services are undergoing a period of expansion and service development. We are continuously looking for ways to develop models of best practice as well as new ways of working to enhance and improve the services we offer to our local populations.
About Alcidion
Alcidion Group Limited (Alcidion) has a simple purpose, that is, to transform healthcare with proactive, smart, intuitive technology solutions that improve the efficiency and quality of patient care in healthcare organisations, worldwide.Alcidion offers a complementary set of software products and technical services that create a unique offering in the global healthcare market. Based on the flagship product, Miya Precision, the solutions aggregate meaningful information to centralised dashboards, support interoperability, facilitate communication and task management in clinical and operational settings and deliver Clinical Decision Support at the point of care; all in support of Alcidion’s mission to improve patient outcomes.
Since listing on the ASX in 2011, Alcidion has acquired multiple healthcare IT companies and expanded its foothold in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand to now service over 300 hospitals and 60 healthcare organisations, with further geographical expansion planned.
With over 20 years of healthcare experience, Alcidion brings together the very best in technology and market knowledge to deliver solutions that make healthcare better for everyone.