A new implementation of EMIS Enterprise in a ‘super surgery’ has been opened by Health Secretary John Reid as part of a partnership between the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust and Newham PCT, east London. The software represents a new contract win for EMIS in London outside of the National Programme for IT within London. Three GPs from single-handed practices who already used EMIS have moved into the practice. The new primary care centre, billed by the Department of Health as a ‘super surgery’, is an integrated health centre that will include GPs, a dentist, a pharmacy, X-ray facilities, a ‘healthy café’ and other features under one roof. Sean Riddell, deputy managing director of EMIS, said: “The one stop-shop approach to primary care provision has many obvious advantages. Housing a variety of expertise under one roof allows NHS resources to go further and gives patients a highly convenient service. A flexible IT system is a crucial element of this kind of joint delivery approach." The EMIS system will be used by GPs and receptionists and will provide an individual patient database hosted on a remote server. According to John Smith, the LIFT ICT project manager for Newham PCT, this will allow the three records systems from each GP’s surgery to be combined on one system, saving money on separate servers. There are 42 NHS LIFT projects across the UK, all of which include schemes to develop ‘super surgeries’ or improve primary care facilities. Newham was chosen as one of the first areas for improvement as its existing facilities had been identified by the DH as needing improvement. John Reid said: “These new super surgeries will provide some of the most modern family doctor facilities anywhere in the country."
