• The third award received this year for landmark electronic
  medical records project

December 20, 2010 – C Cube Solutions and
Kodak (NYSE:EK) today announce that Merseyside-based St Helens
& Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has won the healthcare
IT category at the 2010 Health Business Awards. 

The Trust won because of a unique project to install an
electronic medical records (EMR) system so that patients coming
into hospital are seen by clinicians and health professionals who
have their complete medical history available immediately on a
computer. The system improves services and guarantees the quality
and safety of patient care. 

As far as is known, this makes The Trust the first in the NHS to
stop using paper health records in operational practice.

Held at the Arsenal Emirates Stadium last week, and hosted by
BBC Breakfast presenter, Bill Turnbull, the Awards – run by
Health Business magazine – recognise excellence in the provision of
NHS facilities. 

Colin Boyton, Health Business Awards’ marketing manager,
says, “The Awards focus on rewarding innovation happening
today in the National Health Service incorporating everything from
IT to building infrastructure, security, cleaning, and procurement
– the business end of the NHS.  Competition for an award
is rife and The Trust’s electronic medical records project
stood out as the clear winner.”

Following a 22-month roll out, this landmark project has been
hugely successful and readily accepted by over 500 doctors and 130
medical secretaries who use the system day-to-day. 
Consultation is underway to extend it to the Trust’s whole
health economy over time.   

Working with partners, C Cube Solutions and Kodak, the Trust has
delivered an innovative way of converting its whole paper health
record stock using a scan-on-demand approach, with an electronic
document management system and custom-built portal then used by
clinicians to access these records whether it be in outpatient
clinics, wards or operating theatres. 

This means guaranteed availability of the right patient file to
the right doctor at the right time.  The impact is huge – the
quality of patient care is enhanced, safety ensured, organisational
efficiency improved and costs slashed.

Historically, the Trust was in effect running an internal
logistics business ferrying files to and from its medical library
to clinics and wards which was unsustainable and inefficient given
the vast quantity of patients seen annually. It was just not
practicable to shift 7,000 medical files every week for patients
attending hospitals on different sites. 

This is the third award the Trust has received this year
regarding the project having won the public sector IT project of
the year categories at both the UK IT Industry Awards and the
Document Management Awards 2010. 

The system utilises a customised and bespoke built version of C
Cube Solutions’ EDMS, with Kodak high performance i660 and
i780 document scanners used to digitise paper files and cope with
the substantial scanning volumes required.  To date, 41.3
million pages have been scanned equating to around 134,389 medical
records. 

Doctors throughout the NHS often have to make decisions about
patient care without necessarily having all their background
history available which obviously represents a safety issue. If the
Trust has seen a patient previously, it can now offer the right
treatment based on past medical history as all their details are
instantly available on screen. 

In other words, the system allows doctors to make better and
more informed decisions about the appropriate care for patients,
and ensures that patients – for example – don’t have to
be admitted for exploratory tests because notes were not
immediately available. 

Communication with patients and their families is enhanced, with
clinicians able to access the system via secure VPN links which
improves team working and productivity.  

With the sponsorship of the Trust’s CEO, Ann Marr, the
system was created by the Trust’s informatics service led by
the director of informatics, Neil Darvill, and in close partnership
with C Cube Solutions.  It cost £1.2 million. 

While the primary driver behind the project was patient safety
and care, operational costs will substantially reduce with the
Trust expecting to save of £1.4 million annually by closing
its traditional paper library, redeploying staff and avoiding the
transportation costs associated with delivering files.

Neil Darvill said, “St Helens & Knowsley Teaching
Hospitals NHS Trust is miles ahead of others in the EMR area and
has been visited by over 30 other Trusts keen to see how
we’ve delivered such a huge business change programme so
successfully. We’re delighted to win the HBA Awards –
the third time we’ve been recognised this year for the EDMS
project which is now fully live.”

– ENDS –

About C Cube Solutions

C Cube Solutions is an award-winning provider of
enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, comprising
electronic document and records management, workflow, electronic
forms, portal software, and systems integration.

Founded in 1995, it has a proven track record working with the
police, local government, National Health Service and in the
private sector providing cost effective and scalable solutions,
tailored to meet the individual requirements of
customers.  

An AIIM Advisory Board member, C Cube Solutions is active in
developing and guiding the future direction of the ECM industry,
and upholds AIIM’s principles of good information management,
know-how applied on every customer engagement.  

C Cube Solutions is headquartered in Milton Keynes, and is the
trading name of OITUK Limited. For further information, please
visit www.oituk.com

About Kodak

As the world’s foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps
consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power
of pictures and printing to enrich their lives.

To learn more, visit www.kodak.com and follow our blogs
and more at www.kodak.com/go/followus.

More than 75 million people worldwide manage, share and create
photo gifts online at KODAK Gallery–join today at www.kodakgallery.com.

Choose from the widest selection of Kodak digital cameras,
all-in-one inkjet printers, pocket video cameras and more at http://store.kodak.com.

For further information, please contact

Tom Herbst

Tom Herbst PR

T:07768 145571

Email: tom@tomherbstpr.co.uk

SOURCE