Mid Staffs turns to iSoft for A&E system

The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has given itself less than two months to implement a new emergency department system from iSoft.

The trust has awarded the company a five year contract to deploy and maintain its EDIS system, as well as an electronic document management system so paper records can be scanned and stored electronically.

The trust’s IM&T director, Martin Spotswood, said the trust had an “urgent need” for a new emergency system, and opted to use the Additional Supply Capability and Capacity framework in order to find one in the fastest time possible.

“The ASCC framework gave us a shortlist of accredited suppliers and pre-written contracts, so was easily the fastest route, which was vital in meeting our aggressive timescale.”

The trust has been the subject of rigorous inquiries since 2007, when its mortality rates were found to be higher than other trusts.

Poor care was subsequently uncovered on some the wards of Stafford Hospital and in its A&E department, which the Care Quality Commission warned last month is still understaffed.

The new EDIS system will enable staff to track patients and monitor their treatment and status in real time, which Spotswood said would improve care.

“Being able to track and locate patients within the department at all times will be a major asset and lead to an improved patient experience.”

He said the trust was aiming to use the system to make sure that every patient attending the emergency department was either admitted, transferred or discharged within national waiting time targets.

“It will help us in our efforts to achieve compliance with the new Care Quality Indicators, which we see as a key indicator of our commitment to good patient care and also provide us with the necessary reporting tools to accurately measure these improvements.”

The trust has consistently taken systems from iSoft, and the EDIS system was the “clinicians’ system of choice”, Spotswood said.

The decision bodes well for iSoft, which may have an extended future with the trust as it has recently tendered for a new electronic patient record.

It lodged a tender in the Official Journal of the European Union in August for a system that would include a patient administration system, order communications and results, theatre management, e-prescribing and medicines management, assessments and observations and a data warehouse.

The contract up for tender will replace the iSoft systems – iPM patient administration, and iCM clinical management system – already running in the trust.