Tameside takes Lorenzo

Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the first to sign up to take CSC’s Lorenzo under a new agreement between the company and the Department of Health.

As predicted by eHealth Insider in August, Tameside was thought to be one of the trusts lined up by CSC to take the system as part of the new deal for the North, Midlands and East.

The trust’s finance director, David Jago, had told colleagues in a board meeting earlier this year that it was planning on implementing the electronic patient record system.

He said that: “although the Lorenzo system is old, it is better than the Medway system [System C’s patient administration system] currently in use.”

Tony Mellor, Tameside's chief information officer, said in a statement today that Lorenzo will be the “centerpiece” of the the trust’s new information strategy.

This aims to connect patient information systems across the local health community, reducing the reliance on the paper record.

“This is really good news for the staff and patients of Tameside Hospital. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we have been impressed by the flexibility of CSC in helping to ensure their system meets our needs.

"There is a great sense of optimism that we can achieve something really positive at Tameside,” he said.

“We have been working closely with CSC for several months now, developing a detailed plan which will enable the hospital to unlock investment to support the modernisation of IT systems.

"This will undoubtedly allow us to increase efficiency and help deliver improvements in patient care.”

CSC and the DH had been in negotiations about a new deal since last spring, when Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust pulled out of becoming the fourth early adopter of Lorenzo under the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

The deal announced this month removed the company’s exclusive rights to be the only provider of clinical IT systems in the NME. The DH claims it will save the NHS more than £1 billion.

Under the new arrangement the NHS is not subject to “trust volume commitments” and CSC will deliver the system “based on demand from individual NHS trusts.”

Trusts wishing to take Lorenzo are able to access centralised support and funding for up to five years from implementation, if they can develop a robust business case and demonstrate value for money.

Tameside Hospital’s chief executive, Christine Green, said: “This is a hugely positive and significant step for Tameside Hospital and the patients we treat.

"We are proud to be embarking on a project which we feel places us in a unique position, enabling this hospital and its patients to benefit from the enhanced connectivity this cutting edge technology brings.”

The deal is subject to approval of a full business case.

A CSC spokesman said: "Working with Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is a good opportunity to demonstrate the efficiencies and improvements in patient care that Lorenzo can enable."

He added that CSC is in dialogue with a number of other trusts wishing to follow Tameside’s example.