Sidcup acts as NHS IT test site

Trust's patient administration system deployment to help other hospitals

The lessons learned from the next-generation patient administration system (Pas) newly installed at Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust (QMS) will help all the capital’s hospitals.

QMS is the first acute trust to implement the Pas software, from supplier IDX, that will be installed across London by the BT Capital Care Alliance under the £6bn National Programme for NHS IT.

The QMS implementation is an important test case. BT has acknowledged NHS systems in London are six to nine months behind schedule (see Computing 13 July), and earlier this year IDX was replaced as Pas provider for the South of England.

By being the first to deploy the IDX Pas, QMS had the advantage of close involvement in the design process and massive support from the supplier implementation team. And the trusts that follow will benefit from QMS’s experience.

Since the system went live at the start of this month QMS has been on a major learning curve, says the trust’s chief executive, Kate Grimes.

‘There has been lots to learn around what teething problems occur and what training issues need focus, which will help the next set of deployments,’ she said.

The software is designed to underpin the best possible working processes, but shifting from concept to the reality of a working hospital represents a considerable challenge.

‘Some parts of it will work, and our staff processes will need to change, and some parts of it will not work,’ said Grimes.

Staff training and support has been a central element of the Pas implementation, she says.

‘We have trained 1,000 people, which is more than half our staff,’ she said.
A team of floor-walkers has been on hand to address problems as they arise.
The benefits of the new administration system touch every aspect of the QMS trust, says Grimes.

‘The system holds details of all our patients, so we can use it to run clinics, to monitor patients’ progress through Accident & Emergency, and to know where in-patients are and who is looking after them,’ she said.