U.K. Customers Successfully Participate in Choose & Book Programme
(6/04/2007)

As health care organizations across the U.S. have been striving to achieve interoperable, Electronic Health Records, our friends in the United Kingdom have also been engaging in an ambitious, national health care endeavor. Sites throughout the U.K. have been working with the National Health System (NHS) Connecting for Health Programme, in building a national infrastructure that focuses on using I.T. to deliver better, safer care. One Connecting for Health initiative receiving much attention lately is Choose & Book, a National application that enables patients and general practitioners, or primary care providers as they are known in the U.S., to book hospital appointments more easily and efficiently.

MEDITECH has teamed with our customers, and our international partner and distributor, FileTek, Inc., to support MEDITECH software applications' changes and interfaces so all our public customers in the U.K. can benefit from Choose & Book. We'd like to take this opportunity to share with our readers insights from one early participant in this project, City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (Sunderland, England).

"This National application is helping to improve the hospital booking process for both patients and general practitioners, leading to more timely and better care," according to HISS Services Manager at Sunderland Hospital NHS Trust, Kathryn Walvin. "Beyond this, the real triumph here is about teamwork—especially among our hospital and practices, MEDITECH, and FileTek, as we joined together to achieve our goals."

What is Choose & Book?
Choose & Book is a National application that provides patients with a choice of date and time for hospital appointments, through real-time, automated booking functionality. "The service revolutionizes the current outpatient booking system by allowing patients to choose their hospital appointment and book it immediately, or at a later, more convenient time," explains Jamie Barnes, manager of international service & implementation at MEDITECH.

Before the Choose & Book solution, patients did not have much of a say in planning their appointments. "Patients are more involved now, they have more control over the process. Patients also experience shorter wait times—something the U.K. health care industry has been striving for, for a long time," says Barnes. "It's a much better experience for the patient."

Furthermore, the new process provides care providers and patients with several flexible options. "After discussing the proper treatment, the general practitioner signs on to the system, using the National Choose & Book software, and searches appointment slots for appropriate hospitals while the patient is right there in the room. The administrative staff can perform this booking process as well," explains Barnes. "Another option is for the patient to call a toll free number or access a Web site, and perform this look-up and booking process on their own, depending on which approach the practice prefers."

Implementation: A Team Effort
Since all U.K. sites were to have this solution in place by the end of last year, MEDITECH started working with Sunderland NHS Trust nearly two years prior. MEDITECH, the hospital, and FileTek communicated directly with Connecting for Health to get the specifications approved, and later, all parties underwent the testing process together.

This project affected several of the MEDITECH applications, and uses MEDITECH's 5.4, U.K. Release of our system. According to Barnes, specific products utilized are our NMI interface, Medical Records, and Scheduling. "Scheduling is really the key application within this project, as those changes are what end up being most evident to the end user, when accessing Choose & Book," she explains.

"The solution complies with all security requirements and is fully encrypted. Smartcards are used to get onto the National applications," continues Barnes. "This effort also represents MEDITECH's first endeavor into some different communication protocols for us. It was our first interface that used the XML programming language."

Overall, it was a rigorous project, and besides requiring a significant programming effort from MEDITECH, the company also needed to submit system designs to Connecting for Health in a timely fashion. Specific support for the project was required as well. To aid the site once the installation process began, FileTek provided their project management expertise.

FileTek Project Manager Andrew McCulloch served as liaison for Connecting for Health and MEDITECH, and he was also the main point of contact at Sunderland NHS Trust, spearheading the site's implementation. He explains, "My role included testing, performing practice runs of the system, and helping general pratitioners and staff adapt to changes. Sunderland NHS is a large organization; however, the site was organized and diligent. With the right testing, training, and support, they were able to meet their initiative goals."

As part of this effort, McCulloch regularly attended project meetings and conference calls between all parties. "At one point, we had conference calls each day among MEDITECH, the site, and Connecting for Health. This communication was very effective and made a big difference," states McCulloch.

According to Walvin, "MEDITECH and FileTek were on board with us from the very beginning. We are impressed by their customer service, which eased the process, and helped us meet our go-LIVE date."

Positive Results Pave the Way for Continued Success
Moving forward, Sunderland NHS Trust, much like all of MEDITECH's U.K. customers engaged in this project, continues to have regular conference calls with MEDITECH, FileTek, and Connecting for Health. This team approach is laying the groundwork for future efforts. "We will always have ongoing tasks; we will need to stay on par with the National application the site interfaces to, which will get upgraded three times per year. We perform routine regression tests against new versions, to determine when an upgrade on our end is needed as well. FileTek and MEDITECH also continue to provide our usual, ongoing service and support," McCulloch notes.

According to Walvin, the site has been able to leverage its own positive experiences in service to other customers. "The hours of work and dedication have certainly paid off, and this project has been a truly remarkable success. The number of patients now attending appointments is significantly higher, as the patients themselves decide the most suitable time, date, and place for their care," says Walvin. "We have been hosting site visits, to share our experiences with other customers."

Walvin concludes, "It has been amazing how seamless the MEDITECH solution is, and how it has helped us meet our goals of increasing patient satisfaction and improving health care. The teamwork and our partnerships have enhanced this experience, and the benefits to our health care delivery is evident."

 

About City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
City Hospitals Sunderland (Sunderland, England) is an Acute Trust providing a wide range of hospital services such as A&E, surgical and medical specialties, therapy services, maternity, and pediatric care. The Trust also provides a substantial range of community-based services, particularly within Family Care and Therapy Services. Sunderland NHS has over 970 acute beds.

About FileTek, Inc.
Established in 1984, FileTek, Inc. has been providing data management systems to companies and government agencies around the world. Partnering with MEDITECH, FileTek has developed a dedicated health care division to support the MEDITECH community within the United States and Europe. Staffed by health care professionals experienced in the MEDITECH arena, FileTek's Healthcare group provides support for customers in the areas of project management, change management, risk assessment, and benefits realization.

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