User group to shape Medway

A Medway user group will have its first meeting in April.

The new group’s ‘executive forum’ will meet quarterly and will be made up of senior representatives from all contracted customers of the System C, a McKesson company product.

Specialist groups for patient administration systems, departmentals and clinicals will report into the executive forum.

McKesson’s Acute Business Unit chief operating officer Paul Richards said: “We expect it to be a productive forum which will support ongoing improvements in the delivery and development of Medway products.

“This reflects the close partnership approach that McKesson has with all its customers and that underpins our reputation as a trusted, reliable provider of proven IT solutions to the NHS.”

Richards added that the user group itself would determine exactly what was discussed.

System C, a McKesson company, has won a number of NHS trust contracts over recent years, particularly among trusts that need to move away from McKesson’s legacy PAS systems, such as Totalcare.

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the most recent trust to go-live with a Medway PAS last month.

Other trusts due to go live this year are; Whittington Health; Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Founcation Trust; and Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

McKesson’s project manager at Southend, Peter Easton, said the user groups will help drive the development of the product and make sure it fits with customers’ needs.

A consistent approach will mean it meets the needs of all sites, not just one, he added. Southend is going live with Medway this July.

One of the trust’s two PAS project managers, Donna Shine, said trusts in the East of England are in various stages of deployment and have also set up an informal user group.

These are monthly meetings held via telephone conference, however the first was cut short due to technical difficulties.

“Nottingham suggested setting it up, it’s always good to share experience,” Shine said. She described the working relationship with System C as “very amicable."

“They have always been really helpful. Work stream leads work together to resolve issues and if there has been problems they have been dealt with effectively.”

Read more about Southend’s decision to go with Medway and its EPR project in this week’s Insight.