The latest roundup of contracts and go lives features news from Northern Ireland’s health board, who penned a deal with First Databank, and King’s College Hospital.

Surrey and Sussex NHS trusts select Sectra for medical imaging system

In the middle of January, a consortium of five NHS trusts across Surrey and Sussex selected Sectra to deploy a new picture archiving and communication system (PACS).

The PACS will make it easier for staff to use and process diagnostic imaging. Third party visualisation tools will no longer need to be opened in a separate screen but can be opened through the PACS in patient context.

Additionally, the new system will generate richer imaging reports with hyperlinks, graphs and pictures, to help clinicians access all the information they need to accurately treat cases.

It will also support future integration as necessary, something that becomes more important as AI plays an increasingly bigger role in radiology.

Northern Ireland’s health board signs deal with First Databank

As January drew to a close, the Health and Social Care Board in Northern Ireland penned a deal with First Databank (FDB) which will see a primary care medicines optimisation solution rolled out across the region.

FDB OptimiseRx allows messages to prescribers, which contain important information relevant to a prescribing decision, to be presented in their existing clinical IT system.

The messages can show prescribers when medications might require additional safety measures, such as additional tests or supplementary drugs, and reference relevant national guidance and regional clinical best practice.

The solution is being deployed across the region’s GP practices in a phased approach with the first practices going live in December 2021.

IMS MAXIMS’ EPR rolled out across all Ramsay Health Care hospital sites

The start of February saw IMS MAXIMS and Ramsay Health Care UK announce the rollout of the MAXIMS electronic patient record (EPR) in all 35 Ramsay hospital sites.

Over 11,000 users of the MAXIMS EPR are now able to manage all aspects of the patient pathway, including patient admissions and discharge, referral management and triage, scheduling and appointment correspondence, order communications, referral to treatment pathways, real-time bed management and theatre management.

The rollout forms part of Ramsay’s digital health strategy, which aims to build an integrated healthcare system to deliver advanced digital health services to its clinicians, patients and payors.

Wrightington Wigan and Leigh expands OnBase platform

We have also seen Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust expand its use of Hyland Healthcare’s content services solution in a bid to improve its operational efficiency.

The trust has extended its use of the OnBase platform to include its legal and procurement teams, which will enhance back office operations and enable the trust to streamline the management of the hundreds of contracts it processes annually.

When the platform is fully implemented the trust expects to see an increase in productivity thanks to gaining a complete view of all information, including executed contracts, revisions, related data, supporting documents, expiration and renewal dates and staff ownership details.

It will also be able to better manage the complete contract lifecycle as well as automate repeated tasks and standardise contract requests.

King’s College Hospital secures funding for 2023 roll-out of Epic EHR

Lastly, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed its Epic electronic health record (EHR) will go live in 2023 after funding was secured.

The new system has been designed to improve care for patients and reduce the administrative burden on staff. It will also reduce the number of different IT systems in place at the trust, making it easier and quicker for staff to access a single source of information about each patient.

Teams from King’s College Hospital will be able to work more closely with colleagues at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. They will also work with Epic to deploy a patient portal, which will enable patients to access their medical records, book appointments and engage in their health in partnership with the clinicians managing their care.