Salford Royal had previously used the legacy integration messaging engine SeeBeyond DataGate™, but this was considered limited in its flexibility to support integration with their new systems and servers. The problems were further compounded by the absence of a test and back-up configuration management option. This meant that the new interfaces could not be properly tested prior to going 'live' which constituted a risk to the quality and continuity of their care services.

The Trust chose Ensemble owing to its ease of use, flexibility, and ability to support a wide variety of integration interface types - not just HL7. Also, web browser-based real-time dashboards will assist the Trust in identifying any problem interfaces before users experience related issues. The application, appliance, and device connectivity and interoperability that Ensemble provides will help the Trust optimise the sharing of patient and management information between all departments. This will help manage costs and improve the quality of their data and care services by reducing duplicate activities and providing improved coordination between care teams who may each be using different departmental applications.

Ensemble was installed and productive in less than half a day, and the Trust is on schedule to complete its full implementation within six months. During this time Ensemble will be configured to provide the Trust with a configuration management environment to support its quality management process across three environments: live, back-up and test. To increase the speed of implementation InterSystems provided a comprehensive skills transfer training programme. This means that from now on the Trust's in-house IT team can configure new interface messages into a wide variety of formats without the need of 3rd party services.

Philip Bell, Head of Development at the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, said, "The fact that Ensemble is the CSC TIE (Trust Integration Engine) was a big factor in our decision, and we were greatly reassured by our visit to a local Trust, where it has also been successfully deployed. In the future we will look to employ more ITK compliant interfaces and the deployment of Ensemble is the first step in this modernisation process. The InterSystems team demonstrated a tremendous understanding of our needs throughout the procurement process."

Jonathan Selby, Country Manager, InterSystems said, "We are delighted that we were able to help Salford Royal to modernise their in-house IT integration services using InterSystems Ensemble. With their new extensible capability for interoperability and information sharing, they can now maintain the efficacy and quality of their healthcare services, while being free to choose the healthcare applications that best meet their needs."

Related news articles:

• InterSystems' Profile

About InterSystems
InterSystems Corporation is the worldwide leader in software for connected healthcare. With headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and offices in 23 countries, InterSystems provides advanced software technologies for breakthrough applications. InterSystems Ensemble® is a seamless platform for integration and the development of connectable applications. InterSystems TrakCare™ is a connected healthcare information system that is Web-based and rapidly delivers the benefits of an Electronic Patient Record.

InterSystems Caché® is a high performance object database that makes applications faster and more scalable. InterSystems HealthShare™ is a platform that enables the fastest creation of an Electronic Health Record for regional or national health information exchange. InterSystems DeepSee™ is software that makes it possible to embed real-time business intelligence in transactional applications.

For more information, please visit: InterSystems.co.uk

About Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust is a large teaching Trust with approximately 850 in patient beds, employing over 4,600 staff and treating in the region of 400,000 patients per year. It provides a comprehensive range of services to the 220,000 population of Salford as well as a wider range of services across Greater Manchester, the North West and nationally.

About the Interoperability ToolKit
The Toolkit specification, created by the National Integration Centre and Assurance (NICA) Technology Office, is a set of standards and frameworks for interoperability, covering transactional and analytical services aimed at accelerating the pace of delivery - and is in line with the Department of Health's strategy to 'Connect All' rather than 'Replace All', as outlined in the White Paper, 'Equity & Excellence: Liberating the NHS'.