A project for the Isle of Wight NHS administration to become paperless is well underway.
Discharge summaries and A&E letters are now being sent electronically to at least 17 practices on the Island as part of an objective by the Trust to become paperless.
Seamless transfer of information
The project has been running for one year now and makes use of the Docman Electronic Document Transfer (EDT) Hub which integrates with the electronic patient record (EPR).
The result is the ability to transfer an electronic letter to the GP practice once a Clinician or user clicks the complete button.
Huge benefits to the practice
Barbara Gove, IM&T Project Manager, Isle of Wight NHS Trust says:
“We previously sent discharge summaries and A&E letters by email or post which was a clunky and manual process. To send an A&E letter it would mean we would have to batch print to a folder, a receptionist every evening would sort and change them to a PDF, before going on to sending them by email to a GP practice. This was all a manual and time consuming process.
“Now in the EPR the document is created and a Doctor clicks the complete button and the letter is sent to the GP practice and delivered into Docman GP when the practice schedules to do so. This ensures we deliver these letters to GP practices in an efficient and timely manner.
“The postal method would mean a letter is printed and transferred in our internal mail process to the mail room to then be collected and delivered to GP practices. We have seen a reduction in the paper we send to practices and GP practices have benefited by removing the need to handle paper because of the electronic process.
“Overall the benefits to the practice are huge. By enabling information to be delivered into Docman GP, workflowed around the practice and electronically coded all without the need for paper and is then saved back to the patient’s medical record has saved a lot of time and improved process.”
GP Practice can respond faster
Sarah Sharp, Information Systems Manager, St. Mary’s Hospital, Isle of Wight NHS Trust says:
“Patients benefit because their discharge information is delivered on time to a GP. This enables the practice to respond quickly to the letter and all stakeholders have the knowledge the letter has been transferred safely and securely. This has a particular benefit if there is a note attached to the letter that would need actioning the following day.
“We now plan to extend our use of the Docman Hub even further to deliver more clinical correspondence to practices on the island and further afield. This will greatly improve our efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint.”
IW join over 100 NHS Trusts
Ric Thompson, Managing Director, Docman says:
“Delivering clinical correspondence electronically across a health community is making a considerable impact in driving efficiencies and lowering costs. Over 100 NHS Trusts have adopted Docman Hub to facilitate their health economy in becoming paperless and driving improved patient care without the time consuming back office process of handling patient letters inefficiently.”
