Blackpool defers Alert go-live again

Blackpool, Flyde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has deferred the go-live of its Alert electronic patient record system.

The trust had planned to start using the system in A&E on Friday, but decided on Monday that the go-live should be put off until a number of project issues were resolved. 

In a staff bulletin, deputy chief executive Tim Welch said: "I have been impressed with the level of input and commitment that our staff have put into supporting the implementation of Vision [the trust's name for the Alert project].

“While the delay in go-live is disappointing, the decision will allow the clinical team to work closely with the Vision project team and the suppliers to ensure that the system meets the trust's requirements and delivers the expected benefits.”

Welch added that the delay will also allow the clinical team to have a “further period of familiarisation” with the system, so they feel fully confident about using it when the trust does goes live.

This is the second time that Blackpool has revised its go-live date. In June, E-Health Insider reported that the trust would not go-live in July as originally planned.

It said then that it wanted to make sure all the components of the project were complete, including electronic prescribing, in order to minimise the risks associated with the use of part-paper and part-electronic records.

The trust said that a number of meetings will take place over the coming week to decide on a new go-live date. This will be announced once it has been agreed with the A&E clinical team.

Blackpool signed the deal with Portugese company Alert at the end of October 2009, after using the Additional Supply Capability and Capacity (ASCC) framework catalogue.

At the time, it said that Lorenzo, the 'strategic' EPR it was due to receive under the National Programme for IT in the NHS, did not have the functionality that it required.

The trust plans to keep its IMS Maxims patient administration system and layer in high level EPR components, including e-prescribing, scheduling, care pathways, ordering and documentation.

Alert’s EPR system has gone live on a much smaller scale at the private CircleBath hospital.  The company has also signed a deal with the Bupa Cromwell Hospital in London, but this will be its first deployment in an NHS trust.

Link: Alert