IT Advocates Systems Survey

Regions surveyed (May 2008):

East of England
East Midlands
North East
North West

 South Central
South East
West Midlands
Yorkshire & Humber

No. of Units covered:        39

Main Themes:

  • Contact with the LSPs (Local Service Providers) – only about half of the IT advocates had had any contact with their LSP regarding the requirements of a specialist renal IT system and only one had been involved with respect to the need for an efficient primary care – secondary care information transfer mechanism in the management of kidney disease.
  • Renal Information Systems – there were a variety of renal information systems in use (mainly Proton based, eMed Mediqal, Euclid / Finesse and RenalPlus with a few local bespoke systems).
  • Local Trust engagement with the LSPs – less than 20% of units were in Trusts acting as early adopters of LSP delivered software although just over 40% had seen the deployment of some LSP software in their Trust (principally PAS and / or PACS systems).
  • Local Trust system development and support of renal IT systems – just over one-third of units were in Trusts developing their own electronic information systems (e.g. electronic patient records). Whilst most units (approximately 60%) felt that their Trust IT departments were supportive, this was frequently more ‘moral’ in nature (20%) rather than an active dialogue between the unit and the Trust.

Comments:

Two specific themes came through in the comments collected:

  • Systems should provide better communication tools between primary and secondary care.
  • There should be a realistic and meaningful opportunity for clinicians (medics and nurses) to be involved in the design of systems from a workflow perspective.

Outcome to date (May 2009):

Donal O’ Donaghue (National Clinical Director for Kidney Services) has now written to the Network Chairs in each SHA / SCG proposing that Renal IT Advocates should be offered a defined role in each network as part of the core team.

Downloads

  1. Advocates IT systems survey 2008
    .pdf file (109.89 KB)
    Summary of Advocates' survey on Renal Centre IT systems 2008
    Download