This case study was originally published on www.silverlinksoftware.com
Silverlink Software’s Patient Case System (PCS) PAS has been the backbone of South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust since its implementation in 1998.
Customer Profile
Company: South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust
Website: www.stft.nhs.uk
South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust’s mission is to provide a comprehensive range of high quality healthcare services in their hospitals and clinics to meet the needs of the local population of South Tyneside and surrounding areas.
Business Needs
South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust wanted a capable and solid PAS that offered robustness and interoperability to form the foundation of their information and communications technology (ICT) strategy for the future.
Solution
Silverlink’s PCS PAS offers an application software solution for the administration processes required to run a cost effective and compliant Trust. Designed to be highly compliant with the NHS processes, PCS provides support to the whole administrative cycle while supporting a best-of-breed approach allowing clinicians the freedom to choose the applications that best support their speciality.
Benefits and Values
· A rich and robust solution offering comprehensive PAS functionality and modules.
· A highly interoperable platform allowing the Trust to adopt other solutions that work for them.
· Easy to deploy, manage and maintain.
· Compliant with Choose-and-Book and the Patient Demographic Service (PDS).
· Supports an extensive list of inbound and outbound HL7 messages.
· Cost effective pricing model lowers deployment cost profile.
· Backed up by 20+ years of NHS domain experience.
“It’s the most cost-effective PAS I’ve ever seen.”
– Martin Alexander, Director of Information Services
“Silverlink’s development team has over 20 years of experience with NHS systems, so they know the business and offer practical solutions.”
– Martin Alexander, Director of Information Services
“It was the logical move to sign a direct contract with Silverlink because of the high degree of confidence we have in the company.”
– Martin Alexander, Director of Information Services
Customer Background
Established in 1993 as an NHS Trust, and authorised as an NHS Foundation Trust in 2005, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust is consistently ranked as one of the best Trusts for its quality of services and use of resources. In this modern day and age a well-structured PAS system is vital in running a well-organized medical establishment. Having already utilized electronic healthcare, the Trust required a PAS that could support the whole administrative cycle from initial referral to discharge. In 1998 having an already insufficient PAS in place, the Trust was in the market for a new PAS that could offer an efficient user experience for a range of different clinical specialities throughout the Trust. However, changing PAS systems is always a major undertaking that goes beyond software and includes large amounts of change managements, so a low risk deployment system was essential.
Why the Trust Chose PCS
Martin Alexander started working as the Director of Information Services at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust in 1998, and one of his first assignments was the replacement of their existing PAS. After looking at what was available on the market, PCS was chosen as the right solution for the Trust. What made PCS so attractive was its model of no upfront license fee, which lowered the initial costs profile making deploying the system a very low risk option. Martin Alexander highlighted this by stating “It’s the most cost-effective PAS I’ve ever seen.”
A Simple Implementation
From the start the Trust has had a strong partnership with Silverlink; the Trust implemented PCS when it was still a young system and was responsible for testing it out in the BETA phase that led to its further evolution as an exceptional PAS. PCS’ technological robustness allows a high degree of interoperability, allowing the Trust to adopt best-of-breed solutions that work for them. This allowed not only a smooth transition from the previous PAS, but led PCS to becoming the backbone of the Trust since it went live throughout the Trust in 2002.
Enhancing User Experience and Delivery
The PCS modules were implemented into the Trust’s system over the years as the functionality improved and evolved, expanding to deal with clinical protocols, data mining and business intelligence (BI). All the key modules, such as A&E, radiology, risk module, inpatient and outpatient, maternity, theatres, ward and master patient index (MPI) were implemented between 2000 and 2001. Since then the PAS has been constantly upgraded while remaining the solid backbone of the Trust allowing the staff to carry on deploying other IT systems.
Confidence in the System
The Trust and Silverlink further solidified their partnership on 1st July 2013 by signing a direct contract, since PCS was initially delivered in partnership with other vendors. Martin Alexander noted that “it was the logical move because of the high degree of confidence we have in the company.” It was seen as the right choice because the Trust and Silverlink have always had good business and a close relationship, both professionally and geographically. Above all, the Trust is happy that PCS has been proven as a good solid technology; easy to deploy and manage, dependable and easy to maintain. “Silverlink’s development team has over 20 years of experience with NHS systems, so they know the business and offer practical solutions” Martin Alexander noted.
About Silverlink
Silverlink has over 20 years of development experience dealing with the NHS, which gives them a deep understanding of its processes and requirements allowing them to promptly offer practical solutions to new initiatives. There is also continuous investment in PCS development to meet the needs of the UK market and the NHS while improving existing functionality.
Contact Information
For more information on how Silverlink’s PCS can improve your organisation’s PAS, contact us through http://www.silverlinksoftware.com/contactus/ or find out more at http://www.silverlinksoftware.com/.
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