Access: Supporting NHS interoperability
A big challenge for the NHS is interoperability; the ability for software solutions to cooperate and communicate between each other for a smooth, efficient user experience. This is crucial when considering the strict time constraints and high demand that healthcare professionals are under on a daily basis.
At The Access Group we recognise this fact, which is why we strive to make our software interoperable wherever possible. One such area is with our electronic patient records – Rio EPR. As one of our most popular solutions, Rio EPR has evolved over time to accommodate a range of partners to ensure that clinicians aren’t hampered when logging patient information and can see a clear pathway between the two software solutions. With this in place we can help patients get the best possible care.
We partner with our customers and NHS England (formerly NHS Digital) to improve interoperability between providers but also through national programmes such as the National Event Management Service (NEMS) and the National Record Locator (NRL).
NEMS - The National Event Management Service & Digital Child Health
The National Event Management Service (NEMS) is an NHS patient data sharing service that, in their own words, “enables the sharing of specific health information about a patient in near real-time”. NEMS relays information as an event message. This is any activity that has occurred in a healthcare service, such as birth, death, vaccinations, change of GP etc. It uses a publish-and-subscribe model; creating a notification or event that exists, and then it’s for clinicians (in need of this information) to subscribe to the details and updates from the central system.
Health services and organisations work to the Healthy Child Programme; a government guideline for how best to protect and care for children from birth until adulthood. NEMS assists Digital Child Health (NEMS for DCH) in adhering to these guidelines by allowing for quicker information sharing regarding child health, safety, and overall safeguarding.
Joined-up care is a huge opportunity for modern healthcare to improve care outcomes, and this is exactly what Access Rio does. Our patient record software securely shares vital patient information between GPs, child health information services, maternity, health visiting and other NEMS platforms – joining up the care provision to form one big picture network with a child’s wellbeing at the heart of it.
Working with North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT)
We partnered with NELFT to launch NEMS at the Trust as a first of type in May 2019. Due to the existing partnership with NELFT and Servelec (now Access), Rio EPR was adapted to be interoperable with NEMS to allow the back-and-forth sharing of patient data and likewise data back into the patient records from external services.
This was done by building new APIs in our Conexes platform, which has since been renamed the Rio Integration Hub. This solution is cloud-based, meaning it allows for quick and centralised data handling, but also flexibility to accommodate mobile access to the information too. Role-based security features are available, to ensure patient information is only accessed when necessary or by approved staff, and existing systems can view the data held in Rio thanks to the hub.
Sean Flynn, EPR systems manager at the Trust, said:
We are keen to get the most out of our EPR system. This is why when we were approached about being the first of type for NEMS for Rio, we grabbed it with both hands.
Ultimately it has improved service delivery, and for staff it has reduced the number of inefficient new birth visits significantly. This has helped us demonstrate to our patients that NELFT is an efficient and effective service.
NEMS and Access have helped NELFT meet its priorities by providing accurate data and reducing fragmentation – helping to join up our targeted and universal services and our wider health network.
Connecting the NEMS means the trust can work collaboratively with partner organisations for better data sharing to local authorities and other healthcare providers. It has also enabled an eRedbook service; a digital version of the child’s health Redbook given to new parents at birth. The digital version contains all the same critical information about a child’s healthcare journey.
Following this success, North Middlesex University Hospital also partnered with Access, onboarding Rio Cloud to offer a full remit of electronic patient records both in the hospital but also for remote users.
Accredited interoperability
The Rio Interoperability Hub proved so successful and ideal for NELFT that NHS Digital accredited it for four major national programs – all within a nine month period.
- NHS Digital GP Connect programme
- NEMS with the Digital Child Health Programme
- National Record Locator (NRL)
- Assessment, Discharge and Withdrawal (ADW)
NEMS we have discussed already, and you can read more about NRL on our National Record Locator page, where we go into greater detail about our involvement and support with the NRL across the UK.
GP Connect allows doctor’s surgeries to view GP practice clinical information and data across different systems, whilst retaining the security measures and access permissions to ensure patient privacy, and ADW facilitates the smooth transfer of a person from healthcare into social care.
Access went through a rigorous process to prove its competency, including reviews for clinical safety, providing evidence around the design and architecture of products, proof of resilience, penetration testing, operation checks, auditing and quality reviews and security checks to ensure it conformed with all applicable NHS standards. Rio Interoperability Hub supports the latest Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards – in line with NHS recommendations that services are FHIR compatible.
We’re proud of the work done here at Access to ensure we have a state-of-the-art interoperability platform that enables a safe, secure environment to share data between various systems and mobile apps to deliver an integrated approach to patient care. We are keen to work with the NHS and other organisations to develop partnerships and improve healthcare wherever possible, but it’s only by working together than we can achieve this.
