Humber wants mobile Lorenzo

Humber NHS Foundation Trust has put its hand up to be one of the first to trial the mobile version of Lorenzo.

The trust is yet to go-live with the patient administration system, but its project team has told CSC it wants to be an early adopter of the additional mobile component of the system when it becomes available.

Humber is due to implement Lorenzo as part of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

It became the fourth early adopter of the late-running system when Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust pulled out almost a year ago.

It has begun testing the system and is planning to go-live in May this year. An update on the implementation, presented to the trust board last week, says the roll-out is “progressing well.”

It also says that CSC, the local service provider for the North, Midlands and East, had showed the project team a demonstration of how Lorenzo can be used in ‘mobile disconnected working.’

When asked for more information, the trust said that CSC is developing this system in conjunction with an expert reference group.

It will enable users to access patient information without the need for a connection to the root system via 3G or wi-fi.

The update to the board says that clinicians have also been enthusiastic about the introduction of electronic whiteboards. However, the cost has forced the trust to consider other options.

“The proposal [for 21 sites] is significantly more expensive than expected and alternative solutions are being evaluated with CSC,” the update says.

The trust has completed the first two cycles of testing Lorenzo, and is continuing to work on migrating data.

CSC has also been able to link Lorenzo with the trust’s payments by results system, and its clinical decision support system eGRiST.

The trust has said this had mitigated the most significant risk identified with the Lorenzo implementation project.

CSC is still locked in contract negotiations with the Department of Health over its local service provider contract for the North Midlands and East.

It warned over Christmas that it might not get a new deal that was favourable to it; or any deal at all.

However, Humber has said the protracted discussions have not impacted on on the trust.