News
18th March 2002Christie chooses System C Healthcare
Europe's leading cancer centre, The Christie Hospital NHS Trust, has recently appointed System C Healthcare Ltd. as preferred bidder for the supply of a level 3 Electronic Patient Record (EPR) System. The announcement follows System C's recent contracts to supply EPR systems to the Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust and Sandwell Healthcare NHS Trust.
System C has already commenced work with the Christie to provide all the standard EPR functionality: a clinical information system, order communications, results reporting, enterprise-wide scheduling, theatre management, prescribing and a full Patient Administration System. All modules are fully integrated and able to meet the Government's Level 3 standard.
The Christie Hospital is the largest cancer treatment centre of its kind in Europe and an international leader in cancer research and development. As a specialist cancer hospital, the Christie also requires integration of specialist systems, such as radiotherapy, brachytherapy and chemotherapy. The nature of the Christie's patient base necessitates long term multi-disciplinary care and the EPR has been extended to match this requirement. The Christie already keeps all patient notes in type written format, so working practices and available electronic data are already in place to ensure a smooth transition to the electronic patient record.
An exciting new development will be the Christie's use of hand-held computer devices. The PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) will allow appropriately authorised staff to review patient notes, order tests, view results, add clinical notes, view clinical images and much more. Any changes made to a patient's record whether from a fixed terminal or hand-held device will be automatically stored and available through the EPR. These developments will place the Trust at the forefront of the Governments' drive towards achieving lifelong Electronic Health Records.
Commenting, Ethna McCarthy, Acting Chief Executive at Christie, said:
"We have chosen a UK based supplier who is capable of engineering change and implementing the new system successfully. Their commitment to the project is outstanding. System C understands the complexities of the NHS and in particular those of our Trust. We believe we can build a strong partnership between our two organisations."
Dr Ian Denley, Director of Development at System C, added:
"I'm extremely proud and excited that System C has been chosen by the Christie. This is an exciting project, which will make full use of our clinical applications. In particular, our problem-based EPR is well suited to managing the long-term care of cancer patients and our encoder and clinical analysis tools will be central to the Trust's research work.."
