Great Ormond Street order comms deal

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust has signed a deal with IMS Maxims to implement order communications and results reporting.

The system will enable more than 2,000 healthcare professionals to order pathology and radiology tests and then review the results alongside the original request.

It will also allow orders to be placed for any patient, for the results of tests and investigations to be viewed as part of the patient record, and for users to access the system remotely through a secure portal.

The trust currently uses an ordering system that produces a paper request which then has to be re-inputted into the system.

The new system will reduce the need for duplication as well as giving clinicians the option to access images when viewing radiology reports.

John Campbell, head of IT projects at Great Ormond Street, said: “The IMS Maxims web-based solution offers a number of advantages.

"From the clinician’s point of view, it allows them to easily link the results of pathology tests back to the original message.

In many cases the reason for the test being requested is fundamental to the interpretation of the result, so this is a very real need.”

The trust selected the system from IMS Maxims following visits other trusts, including Royal Cornwall Hospital. There, they spoke to users about the effectiveness of the product and were given demonstrations on the system.

Campbell added: “The system will be used by around 2,000 healthcare professionals and user acceptance is very important.

"We liked the IMS Maxims solution because it is easy to use and because the company was prepared to work with us to develop the system to meet our specialist needs.”

The trusts intends to have the system in place later this year. Shane Tickell, IMS Maxims chief executive, commented: “Our Order Communications and Results Reporting solution is designed to be straightforward and efficient.

"At the same time, we recognise that no two healthcare environments are exactly the same, so we are always committed to work closely with clients to ensure our solutions are an exact match for their needs.”

Link: IMS Maxims