EDT Case Study - Sett Valley Medical Centre
Sett Valley Medical Centre is a six doctor
general practice situated in a small industrial
town in the Peak District with 11,000 patients. With the introduction of the electronic document
transfer system we are practically a paperless
practice. |
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Hospital letters are typed by the hospital
secretaries and then released by clinicians for
overnight delivery to our practice. When we
retrieve our documents the system automatically
identifies and distributes the letters for
filing into the patient’s clinical record. It
has revolutionised the way we work. Previously
we had to scan all the incoming mail and
manually file it into our computerised system
then we had to make sure that all relevant
people received copies. Now because of
electronic delivery and automatic identification
much of this is done for us saving hours of work
each day. An electronic copy is made of the original and this can be annotated by the doctors. The annotation process contains an “action list tick box”. Thus by electronically highlighting the disease and ticking the Read Code box and sending this information to our computer manager then we ensure that all hospital procedures are Read Coded and therefore we ensure that we get near maximum QOF points. We also highlight test results, e.g. blood pressure blood test results, scans etc. and these are likewise entered into the patient’s records using templates by the computer manager, thus overall improving our Read Coding and data collection system which bodes well for future QOF targets. The annotation process also allows us to communicate with other members of the Primary Health Care Team. For example we can ask our phlebotomist to do further blood testing or our District Nurses to visit for certain procedures requested in the letter. The District Nurses Community Clinic is connected to the surgery computer system by laser link. Patients are therefore dealt with promptly and accurately and the overall communication between members of the Primary Health Care Team has been dramatically improved. On average each day a doctor will see somewhere in the region of 20 to 30 electronic documents and this may take half an hour to process. Our surgeries start at 9.00 am and we usually finish with time to meet for a coffee at 11.45 am before doing our visits. The electronic document transfer software system also can facilitate the tracking of patients whilst in hospital. This service allows us to see where the patient is, what tests they have had done etc. It can also be used for the Choose and Book System in the future. As far as Practice Based Commissioning is concerned we are looking at co-operative working and therefore cross transfer of referral details from one practice to another. Specialist GPSI type work would be facilitated by this system. It would also be helpful to know what tests have been done whilst in hospital so that there is no duplication of investigations, thus saving money. The Government seem to be determined to press ahead with Choose and Book and therefore this system is ready made to fulfil their requirements. We have been computerised for over 15 years and now use the EMIS system which we find very satisfactory. All surgeries and workstations have their own PC linked into an EMIS central server. We have a landline link to our branch surgery in Hayfield and a laser link to the Community Clinic where the district nurses and health visitors have their PC’s thoroughly integrated into our system. We were introduced to Workflow through EMIS and the practice decided to look into how it could be integrated into our computer system with a demonstration from Workflow at the surgery. After conferring with Stepping Hill Hospital and PCTI it was decided to implement Workflow and we arranged for the electronic link to be installed. PCTI came along to the surgery and installed the software on the individual PC’s and training was given to the GP’s and practice staff. In summary the practice feels that this new software system has improved our overall efficiency and communication. It has obviously reduced our paper workload considerably. Within half and hour we can read and annotate all of our morning mail which on Monday in particular can be considerable. It has facilitated accurate Read coding and data collection, therefore assisting us in all our QOF targets and it has improved our communication with the community staff. It has freed up staff time considerably enabling them to attend to other practice duties. As far as the future is concerned I can see Sett Valley Medical Centre never returning to a paper system. We would wish to have this computerised system connected to other local hospitals and indeed to other local practices. Dr D E Williams Hyde Bank Road, New Mills, High Peak. SK22 4BP. Tel: 01663 743483 Fax: 01663 741524 |
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