Clinician-led IT projects are a winner (partner post by Enline)

In the run up to EHI Live, we are giving some of our partners the chance to post on our blog about what they're currently up to and their view of EHI Live 2012 (November). First out of the blocks is Jack Clarke, Microsoft Business Manager from our partner Enline...

I’ve been working with NHS Trusts now for the past seven years and the last couple of years seem to have encompassed an amazing amount of change.

Structural, Political, Financial and Societal factors all seem to have converged to provide the NHS with a huge number of challenges. Pressures such as a massive reorganisation, an ageing population and legislative change all have to be dealt with under the shadow of a £20bn efficiency drive.

Anyway, enough of the gloom!

Looking at this in a positive light, the coming together of these factors is an almost serendipitous event if you consider innovation as an outcome. The Trusts I am working with are seeing the challenges as a catalyst for change, using them to think strategically about IT, or rather about how IT can contribute to the organisation’s challenges and accelerate the changes that are required.

As a result, this for me is now the most exciting time for Healthcare IT. The value of clinically led IT projects as an enabler for change - something that can strategically improve the way Clinicians access and use information to support improved patient outcomes has never been recognised more. The EHI CCIO campaign is a testament of this.

The advent of the information anywhere and anytime culture is changing the way we expect to be able to work. Mobility and flexibility in how information is accessed is critical to meet the expectations of Clinicians and to align with the changing shape of how care is being delivered.

To support this transformation Enline and Ultima, working with Microsoft have developed a Clinical Desktop solution that improves the way Clinicians interact with, and use IT on a day to day basis. At a high level the Clinical desktop allows a clinician to log in to any device and access clinical systems without needing to remember any more passwords. This can be across PC’s in a consulting room, a shared machine on a ward, or even a mobile device such as a tablet.

When the Clinician moves from device to device their applications remain open so they can pick up where they left off – this includes keeping the same patient record in focus across all systems if required!

Data protection, auditability, security and reliability are critical as you’d expect when information is accessed from all these different locations and on different form factors. That’s why the Clinical desktop has been developed on Microsoft’s proven platform with all of these in mind. We’ve had great feedback from Trusts about this solution and see EHI as a really exciting forum to discuss how technology can make a real difference.

by Jack Clarke, Microsoft Business Manager, Enline.

Remember, please come and say hello at our Microsoft Solutions Showcase (stand E50), EHI Live!