The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out IMMJ Systems’ MediViewer electronic document management system across 10 clinical specialities in a bid to digitise patient records.
The system allows the hospital to scan, index and archive paper medical records which can then be accessed by healthcare professionals through a fast, intuitive touch-screen used interface from anywhere.
It is hoped that the introduction of MediViewer will improve patient experience and alter the way patient care can be delivered as the system provides a complete overview of a patient’s health record quickly and efficiently.
Robbie Cline, joint chief information officer for The Hillingdon Hospitals, said: “This project is an important part of our journey to remove the need to move large amounts of paper around our organisation. By scanning our existing paper notes and any new paper that is created, clinical teams will have instance access to all parts of their patients’ medical records.”
The trust made its first move to a paperless environment in September 2019 when it deployed MediViewer across its emergency department. It went on to sign a seven-year contract with IMMJ Systems in June 2021 to roll out the system further and at the start of this year MediViewer was extended to ophthalmology.
So far the trust has digitised over 15,000 patient records and intends to roll it out across all specialities. Following IMMJ supporting the roll out in ophthalmology, the trust resources will now support its delivery across the remaining specialties.
Jamie Hall, head of sales, IMMJ Systems, said: “There has been a lot of hard work gone into ensuring a successful go live of MediViewer at the Hillingdon Hospital, from both sides.
“We are absolutely delighted with the initial feedback on the system’s performance and responsiveness, but more importantly seeing the benefits the deployment brings to patients and the trust as a whole over the coming months and years is crucially important to us all.”
The project has also involved the digitisation of the trust’s active and legacy records from its medical records library. Hugh Symons Information Management has been tasked with the job of digitising over 350,000 medical records over the next three years.
Chris Booth, managing director of the specialist scanning service provider, said: “Since the project started at the beginning of 2022, we have already processed more than two million images from both legacy health records and day forward files. We are excited about this partnership and to successfully delivering another on time, on budget project over the coming months.”
MediViewer has also been integrated with the Hillingdon Care Record, for a robust view of patient health records, and will also be integrated with the trust’s new Cerner EPR when it goes live later this year.
The project forms part of the trust’s digital strategy and has aligned three acute trusts in north west London. Hillingdon Hospitals, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust are all now operating with the same clinical document management system.