Stockport NHS Foundation Trust has deployed the Kainos Evolve electronic medical records platform to help get a tighter grip on its data and cut costs.
Since initiating the rollout the trust has extended the software to paediatricians who see patients in outpatient clinics and in the community, and to paediatric sub-specialities including paediatric cardiology and paediatric trauma, and to orthopaedic, obstetrics and gynaecology areas.
And this summer Stockport also introduced Evolve right across the trust for all brand new patients not previously seen at the trust.
The trust decided to implement Kainos Evolve to address the high costs and inefficiency of managing patient records on paper. It is now projecting savings of tens of thousands of pounds on storage costs alone.
“We have around 900,000 sets of case notes stored on site, as well as high volumes stored off site,” said Judith Riley, clinical service lead and project manager for Evolve at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust. “We also have around 40,000 sets of notes in various secretaries’ offices, so there is a high churn of notes travelling around sites.”
Transport costs are considerable too. “If we have to urgently get a file to the Buxton Cottage Hospital in Derbyshire, which is 30 minutes away, it means sending them via the courier service,” said Riley.
As well as reducing costs Evolve brings other benefits to the trust, such as providing secure and immediate access to electronic medical records for authorised staff.
Of 4,500 potential users across the trust around 2,000-3,000 are expected to use Evolve regularly, including community health workers. Stockport is currently trialling the mobile version of Evolve on the iPad – once deployed this will give direct access to Evolve in clinics and out in the community.
