South Staffs Launches Community-wide Electronic Records

South Staffordshire Healthcare NHS Trust has gone live with an enterprise-wide, patient information system, PiMS, which provides staff with real time patient information.

Supplied by iSOFT the system provides the trusts 3,500 clinicians with access to the computerised details and clinical information of all patients within the 0.5 million local population.

The PiMS patient record forms a key part of the trust’s strategy to ensure complete integration of all information, in line with NHS objectives to develop electronic patient records EPRs.

“An effective information system to record outcome measurement is an essential tool for the delivery of the clinical governance agenda," said Jayne Deaville, Director of Finance and Information, of South Staffordshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

PiMS will also support the data requirements of strategies for Older People and Mental Health to meet national initiatives. Eventually the trust aims to report all mental health information through PiMS to create an IMHER (Integrated Mental Health Electronic Record).

“iSOFT is delighted at the success of the implementation project at South Staffordshire in helping them towards meeting the challenges of Government initiatives, such as EPR & IMHER,” says Steve Graham, iSOFT’s Chief Operating Officer.

Two other Primary Care Trusts (PCT) within the South Staffordshire region — Burntwood, Litchfield and Tamworth PCT and East Staffordshire PCT — have also selected PiMS as their preferred integrated patient information system