Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust has completed the sign-off of its contract with Cambio Healthcare Systems for a new hospital information system.
As first reported by E-Health Insider last month, the trust has awarded the Swedish company the ‘multi-year’ contract for a patient administration system, A&E functionality and e-prescribing.
The award followed a comprehensive tendering process that began in January. Speaking to E-Health Insider after finalising the contact, Stephen Dobson, head of IM&T at the trust, said it selected Cambio out of 25 competitors for “numerous reasons.”
“They’re a very innovative company and provide a platform that is good for integration," he said. "The model they have in Sweden is about creating an entire health economy, which is what we are looking to do.”
The roll-out of the system, which will steer clear of a big-bang implementation and instead look at areas that will deliver immediate benefits, will be the first of its kind for company in the UK.
The trust and the company will work in partnership to anglicise the Cosmic system. But the trust itself will have ownership of the implementation and declined to put any timescales on the project.
Keith Griffiths, director of finance and IM&T, told EHI: “There are a lot of clear challenges to make this a success. In terms of timescales, we are being realistic as there are a lot of unknowns, so things could be brought in or cut out as we go along.
“Essentially, we need to have better integration between A&E and PAS in real time to improve the flow of the patient from A&E. But we need clinical engagement in the design of that and need to be focused on clinical pathways.”
The trust already has an advanced electronic patient record system which is based on Orion Concerto and uses XML to put data into the portal.
Martyn Smith, production and modernisation manager at the trust, added: “We have a well established EPR system and we’re not planning on ripping that out.
"Rather, we will look at how we can deliver information from the EPR and HIS in clinical areas, exposing functionality from one through the other.”
Although the trust originally said that the contract would provide the trust with an ‘interim solution,’ it has now admitted that it will not be opting for the offering from the National Programme for IT in the NHS; iSoft Lorenzo.
Griffiths added: “We can’t afford to wait for the programme but the spirit and intent of being paperless is very much at the heart of what we’re doing.
"We just need applications that will get us there quicker. Standing still would have been the wrong thing to do.”
Griffiths added that the rationale for the contract has been focused on improving patient care, reducing length of stay, preventing duplication and increasing productivity.
Andrew Meiner, managing director of Cambio UK, said: “This win is hugely important and we are very excited to be working with such a forward thinking trust who is investing in IT in a creative way. #
"We are an open company with open software and Cosmic can integrate with other systems. Since EHI announced that we had won the contract, we’ve had considerably more interest. But the focus is still going to be on delivery.”