Ensemble integration at Barnet and Chase

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has completed the move to an InterSystems Ensemble integration platform.

The trust has been a long-term user of Java CAPS 5.2, which supported around 20 interfaces, and supported the creation of two to five new interfaces every year.

However, head of IT applications, Peter Loudoun, said the trust decided to move integration engines ahead a licence renewal date that fell at the end of August, in order to secure a product with a longer shelf-life and to make cost savings.

The trust worked with ReStart Consulting on the migration, which started in March and was completed in August in time for testing and the switch-off of the JCAPS interfaces.

The move was made in two stages, with admission, transfer and discharge interfaces transferring over a weekend and order and results messages in mid-week.

In a statement, Loudoun said: “The interfaces were down for an hour for each of the two stages. The trust staff were blissfully unaware of the migration of such an important application.”

Following the move, the IT team has been working to link the trust’s anti-coagulation system to its pathology system.

Currently, the anti-coagulation system sends a letter to a patient asking them to attend for a blood test. When the patient comes into the pathology department, staff have to order the test manually, taking the details from the letter to process the blood.

The new interface will automate the process and should lead to significant time and cost savings as the trust handles 70,000 orders every year,

Loudoun said: “This is where Ensemble is really going to reap us benefits. The time it takes my development team to develop new interfaces will be greatly reduced. We will be able to integrate new systems at a comparative rate of knots.”

ReStart supported the trust’s JCAPS environment for a number of years and is now providing the initial set-up of Ensemble, some of the conversion, and mentoring.

“In effect, they are giving us the benefit of their experience and empowering us to manage Ensemble ourselves,” Loudoun said.