Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital signs contract for open data platform

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) NHS Trust has penned a deal with Interneuron CIC to develop an open source clinical data platform.

The project will see RNOH, which is the largest specialist orthopaedic hospital in the UK, replace their legacy technology with a newer clinical data platform.

This approach will allow RNOH to embark on an innovation led strategy where new applications can be developed on top of the platform.

Initial applications will support electronic bed boards and nursing observations, improving patient safety and clinical efficiency.

In addition, RNOH and Interneuron will be making this new technology and applications available to the whole of the NHS. Other trusts will not only be able to freely download, test and implement the software developed, they will also be able to get support from Interneuron by using this framework contract.

Dr Saroj Patel, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at the RNOH, said: “I am very excited and delighted to announce this innovative approach to delivering healthcare technology.

“Our vision is that in time others will join RNOH to gain the benefits of shared investments, develop new world class applications and dramatically reduce the total cost of ownership of healthcare software in the NHS”.

The topic of open platforms was recently discussed at Digital Health Rewired.

Tomaž Gornik, co-chair of openEHR Foundation, said using a system with open standards allows data to be more easily transferrable between applications when they’re upgraded.