The Dudley Group NHS FT has accelerated the roll-out of an information sharing project to support its clinicians during the coronavirus outbreak.

The trust is one of the first in the UK to adopt the Allscripts dbMotion information sharing platform, and was planning a full-scale deployment this summer, following internal testing and a proof of concept with local GPs.

WHY IT MATTERS

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the deployment plans and delivered a three-to-six-month project in 10 weeks, starting with the data that would help doctors to treat patients with COVID-19.

This included adding medications information from the IT system used by local GPs and data feeds from the trust’s pathology, imaging, and document management systems.

These developments mean clinicians have access to more information about the medical history of their patients and can quickly access their drug history, past discharge summaries, and notes without having to log in to many different systems.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

In January, Healthcare IT News reported on Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals FT contracting IMMJ Systems and SPS to digitise patient healthcare records — a project which had the potential to deliver cost savings of £2.5 million per annum. 

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS FT also went live with the Allscripts Sunrise EPR at the end of last year.

In related news, UK’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS FT became the first hospital in Europe to attain Stage 6 of both EMRAM and O-EMRAM.

ON THE RECORD

Chief Information Officer Adam Thomas explained: “We had the dbMotion platform in place, but we really accelerated work during the coronavirus outbreak to support clinical decision making earlier in the patient journey.

“During a pandemic, it is vital that clinicians have access to the medical history of their patients, so they can triage them effectively and direct them to the right care.

“Doctors treating Covid-19 patients also need past history, underlying conditions, medicines and allergies to speed treatment decisions. We were able to give them that using dbMotion.”

Max Hodges, the trust’s chief clinical information officer and an anaesthetist, said: “Access to patient information is always valuable. By accelerating this project, we have not just supported our clinicians during the COVID-19 crisis but improved the quality of information that is available to clinicians to support patient care in the future.”