North Bristol NHS Trust is currently carrying out a major record digitization project with CCube Solutions’ EDMS to complement and augment its Lorenzo EPR system as part of a Trust-wide paperlite strategy
The electronic document management software (EDMS) is to replace all paper case notes with an easy to use digital system providing instant access to patient medical records for 6,000 clinicians, nursing and administrative staff. The solution will provide the Trust with:
- A scan-on-demand model to digitise patient medical records will save over £1.3 million within 4 years
- EDMS is an ‘invest to save’ initiative with the system paying for itself based on a reduction in operating costs
The software will also support advanced searches, so hospital staff do not need to click through a large PDF to find the information they were after.
“The business case for the EDMS project is predicated on a scan-on-demand model where only the patient notes for people booked to attend clinic will be processed, not everything in the library. This saves a huge amount of money given the other records will be destroyed in line with our retention policies and procedures as and when they reach their expiry dates” Neil Darvill, Director of Informatics, North Bristol NHS Trust said.
Neil Darvill joined North Bristol from St Helens & Knowsley NHS Foundation Trust, where in 2009 as head of informatics, he introduced electronic document management software from CCube Solutions and an in-house scanning bureau. The project saw impressive results: £1.4 million annual savings from a £1.2 million investment.
Vijay Magon, CCube Solutions’ Managing Director, says, “EDMS used to be seen as just an archival tool. Fortunately that changed a few years ago and there’s a better understanding now that one has to exploit the legacy paper record, get information out of it and make it available quickly for clinicians at the point of care so they have a holistic view of the patient in addition to what is stored in an EPR. A close working partnership with North Bristol and careful planning during the early stages of the project helped to ensure that The Trust achieved its digital transformation targets well ahead of the national timescales. That’s the way it ought to be.”
