St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a 10-year contract with System C for a new Trust patient management system.

Under the contract, System C will supply a locally managed service for the Medway system. The solution comprises the Medway patient administration, Emergency Department, order communications and results reporting systems, together with advanced business intelligence and data visualisation software and complex integrations to existing systems.

The Trust is already using Medway Maternity, System C’s maternity software, and this will be fully integrated into the new System C solution.

St Helens and Knowsley employs 4,500 staff across its two main acute sites in St Helens and Whiston hospitals. Once introduced, the Medway system will help staff capture and share information at the point of care, helping provide safe and effective clinical care, as well as improving working practices, efficiency and operational performance.

Christine Walters, Director of Informatics at the Trust, explained:

“We selected System C because it is a really good fit for NHS processes and workflows. System C also has a great track record of rapid and safe delivery.”

The 11-month deployment at St Helens and Knowsley will involve the replacement of the Trust’s existing PAS solution, due to its current system no longer being supported. It will also include single sign on access, with patient context, to a variety of existing third party systems that the Trust has, including electronic document management software, PACS, order communications and discharge summaries.

“Having all the patient information in one place and readily accessible to those who need it, without them having to log into multiple systems, will bring significant benefits”, added Dr Francis Andrews, Assistant Medical Director/Caldicott Guardian.

Markus Bolton, joint chief executive of System C, said: “St Helens and Knowsley is a substantial and go-ahead Trust and we are delighted to have won this contract. Our work on the Digital Exemplar programme will transform clinical IT for our user base and St Helens and Knowsley will be working with us on that transformation.

“The Trust is a great match for System C’s solutions and philosophy and we look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

A total of 22 Trusts use System C’s Medway software as their main operational system, and North West Anglia signed a new contract with System C in April.

Of the 22 deployments, 19 were completed in 12 months or less.

In addition, around 50% of social services authorities - including St Helens and Knowsley - use System C’s Liquidlogic adult and children’s social care software, and the company is in the process of deploying tight integration between its health and social care solutions.