​SITE VISIT: Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust: ‘Big push towards a digital project’ (2)

Article posted on Health IT Central (HIMSS Europe), April 24, 2017

Source: British Journal of Healthcare Computing

“I think with regards to the definition of paper free, I would say we’ve now achieved it against the original timetable, which was 2018,” David Walliker, CIO at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and Liverpool Women’s NHS FT, told BJ-HC

Read the second part of BJ-HC's  site visit to Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and find out more about the strides they've made in advancing their digital maturity

[Liverpool, UK] Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (RLBUHT) is one of three trusts in the UK to design in-house systems that are deployed at a large scale; one of the primary ones is the Admissions, Discharges & Transfers (ADT) Whiteboard, which initially started as a bed management system.

“That sort of grew and has now been developed up to the point where we’ve got electronic forms, radiology is in there, pathology is in there, PACS is in there, bedside observations, e-handover, sepsis, alerting, news, vital signs, all in one package and we’ve developed that in house,” David Walliker, RLBUHT and Liverpool Women’s FT CIO, told BJ-HC.

The system was rated outstanding by the CQC during their latest inspection and the trust now has two of its versions in effect: A&E and hospital bed states.

The other in-house system is PENS, the Patient Electronic Note System, which was generated by the need to stop using paper, including a ‘couple of thousand electronic forms’, not only ‘continuation sheets and doctor noting’, but also bedside observations and sepsis early warning. Nurses input information into phones and tablets, which then goes into PENS and after that into the ADT Whiteboard.

Walliker explained developing in-house comes with a certain degree of risk, but it also enables the trust to be ‘more nimble’ in regards to their own requirements: “You sit down, you discuss, you develop, you release. So it really is a Royal product that’s developed by our IT, rather than an IT product used by a clinician.”

Establishing the GDE scheme

Kate Warriner, NHS Liverpol CCG Digital Lead and the trust’s GDE Lead, revealed they put in an expression of interest last September and are now in the process of establishing the GDE programme.

“One of our aspirations through GDE from a staff experience point of view is that when they come to work into the new hospital once we put everything in place that the experience of technology is as good as or better than at home so they’re really empowered to do their job with the right technology,” Warriner explained.

The trust has now nominated Liverpool Women’s NHS FT for the fast follower scheme, along with an out of area trust which is expected to be unveiled shortly: “We’re just waiting for confirmation on that because that would be quite an interesting approach I think and probably the right thing for GDE because one of the sort of output we need to deliver at the end of GDEs is the blueprint,” Walliker added.

He also explained that 20 organisations will be chosen as fast followers, with 12 trusts that will only have one and four that will get two. However, NHS England has not explained yet how these fast follower organisations will be chosen; they are expected to be revealed later on this year. Last week, it was also announced the Treasury has now approved funding for GDEs.

But is there any doubt the trust will reach its paper free target?

“We’ve pretty much done it,” Walliker concluded, “I don’t think we’ll ever go paperless. A&E is paper free now, IT is paper free now, the wards are paper free, inpatient, outpatient, we still generate some paper, but not by the concept of medical record.

“And I think with regards to the definition of paper free, I would say we’ve now achieved it against the original timetable, which was 2018.”

Find out more about the trust’s latest digital developments at UK e-Health Week, taking place at Olympia in London on the 3rd and 4th of May, showcasing a Global Digital Exemplars zone.