Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust has implemented InterSystems Ensemble rapid integration platform in an effort to connect all its hospital systems to its iSoft iPM patient administration system.
The trust went to tender for technology to meet its local integration needs and address the integration requirements associated with its National Programmed for IT systems. Bolton chose InterSystems for its ability to install engines quickly and integrate any data into one electronic patient record.
Bolton is an existing user of iSoft’s patient administration system (iPM) and clinical management software (iCM), and is using the Ensemble integration engine to deliver interfaces between the new hosted applications and the trust’s local applications.
These interfaces include CliniSys pathology, Ascribe pharmacy, EuroKing Miracle maternity, and CSC Alliance HSS radiology.
Ken Bradshaw, Head of IT Strategy and Implementation at Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, told E-Health Insider. “With only two of the Trust’s 15 IT staff dedicated to integration it was vital that the new solution was versatile, and easy to use and maintain. We also needed to be able to develop the interfaces rapidly given the timeframes to which the trust was working.
“Ensemble is bringing rapid integration capabilities to the trust which was something we really wanted to do, in order to be able to integrate both national and local applications into a patient record. It means all staff have knowledge available to them when they need to look at records of what has happened and where within the trust. The building blocks are in place and systems are beginning to be able to talk to each other.”
InterSystems helped to train Bolton’s IT staff on how to use the engine and Bradshaw said they were able to use the engine and connect systems “within days.”
As more systems are introduced, he hopes they can continue to programme the Ensemble engine to speak to the iPM system and feed data to it as and when it is updated.
“We were delighted to assist Bolton to go live with the first interface on plan in September 2007 to the HSS Radiology System so that they met their pre-agreed deadlines set by Connecting for Health,” said Graham Frost, InterSystems group director for Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, “and we are confident that the trust can now continue to evolve their integration services to meet their ongoing requirements.”
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