CSC has partnered with Research in Motion to offer a secure service that will allow NHS staff to access and update patient information via a BlackBerry.
The Patient in your Pocket system pushes patient information to and from trust information systems onto the BlackBerry.
The new system allows workers outside a hospital or practice to both view and enter up to date information about a patient and their condition.
Patient in your Pocket users access the smart phone using their standard NHS smartcard and password. Patient data is encrypted both locally and on the network and if the smartcard is moved away from the phone then data is lost.
Andrew Spence, CSC’s UK director of healthcare strategy at CSC, told E-Health Insider: “This is a mobile solution that provides access to a patient record at the point of care wherever that may be.
CSC, the local service provider for the North, Midlands and East of England, is providing the Patient in Context Manager, which provides integration between the various trusts’ systems and the BlackBerry itself.
Spence added: “We are essentially gluing everything together, working with all of the vendors to do what needs to be done as well as providing a managed service to support the technology, so we are really the system’s integrator in all this.”
The companies have also incorporated a number of ways to input information into the system including digital pens, digital dictation and using smart phone functionality, such as the camera.
The smart phone’s GPS features are also used to provide an activity monitoring system to improve lone working safety by registering expected times for lone-working tasks with a call centre and raising an alarm if activities exceed the expected duration without contact.
Daniel Morrison-Gardiner, UK healthcare director at Research in Motion told EHI: “This is the first ‘super app’ in healthcare that can really make a difference. Not only is the BlackBerry an easy and familiar tool to use but it provides access to patient information, reduces administration and travel time and is secure.
“The CSC solution runs over the BlackBerry Enterprise Server so updates and upgrades can be centrally controlled and information, such as appointments, can be sent out and received within a secure environment.”
The companies are already working with NHS Hull to develop the usability of the product and plan to roll out the devices across the trust before the end of the year with general availability to the NHS following shortly.
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