The patient journey is extremely important within healthcare and a focal point of the NHS’s long term digital transformation strategy.Digital transformation aims to improve patient experience and clinical outcomes.
This is a case study outlining how we helped support one client improve their patient experience with the implementation of an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, Cerner.
Initial Requirement
Our client reached out to us here at IT Works Health as we had previously worked successfully to connect EPR experts on a previous project. It was a no-brainer to engage the team again for guaranteed quality service.
Our client had Cerner in place for small scale administration purposes. The decision was made to take the opportunity to expand their use of the existing Cerner EPR system and improve efficiency within the patient journey.
The Programme Director at the NHS trust consulted Daniel Bennett who understood the requirements and resourced an interim programme team that had the experience to develop and configure Cerner.
Delivering the EPR Talent
Having 19 years of experience in the market a dedicated team of experts and a wide-ranging network of candidates resulted in an immediate response from our team who began connecting with EPR Specialists, Workstream Leads, Testers, Programme Leads, Development and Configuration Specialists.
Delivering the EPR team as soon as possible was essential to ensure the client could meet their project timescales. Time was of the essence as the client needed Cerner to go-live across a vast number of healthcare departments if it was going to have the desired impact on the patient journey. Departments involved at this stage were ED (Emergency Department), Theatres, ePMA (Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration), PAS (Patient Administration System), and Critical Care.
The entire project was scheduled to take 12 months and because of the speed of service from the team at IT Works Health the project team was recruited in its entirety within one week from initial engagement, giving the trust the entire 12-month period to work on delivery.
Within the one-week window that the IT Works Health team resourced on behalf of the trust the team facilitated a 1 step interview process for every EPR candidate. The client conducted the interviews and assessed all candidates’ skills and experience for their specific role within the EPR project team. Successful candidates started one week post offer.
6 of our Workstream Leads experienced the recruitment process end to end in 2 days.
During the final stages of the Cerner implementation, our client required a go-live team of 72 Floorwalkers to help assist current employees with their use of Cerner. When the trust was ready to switch from their current EPR system, we also advised on including and subsequentially provided a Cutover Manager who analysed the program making sure the Cerner system was fit for purpose throughout the trust.
Outcome of the Cerner Implementation
After the Cerner implementation was complete, there was an immediate improvement in processes across the trust, communication, and the patient journey. The trust can now register every patient digitally and make sure that the patient journey is fast, efficient, and paperless!
Contacting Our Cerner Experts
If you’d like to find out more about how I, Daniel Bennett and the rest of the EPR team can deliver you the best resource and solutions, contact me.
