LIVERPOOL, UK – UK-based Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust have organized a clinical portal solution, contracted out by CSC.

The real-time portal will aim to lower clinic times and the use of paper records. Furthermore, it will allow 250,000 hospital employees to access patient information in a variety of systems and in a single view, broadening the lifespan of the 17 existing systems that may need renewal or upgrades.

The portal authorizes hospital consultants and nurses to counsel patients by viewing patient medical history, key treatments, referrals, diagnosis and test results electronically, rather than using paper case notes.

This contract follows a recent proof of concept evaluation delivered to the Liverpool Hospitals by CSC. The results showed that the clinical portal solution reduces the length of clinic times, improves patient services and safety and achieves savings in NHS resources. Time may also be cut down for nurses spending a greater part of their time in administrative tasks, like searching for and preparing case summaries.

"The use of portals is the way forward to help increase efficiency, improve treatment and diagnosis. It will make the paperless clinic a reality, which is long overdue," says Patrick Chu, professor and consultant haematologist at the NHS Trust. "The portal will allow clinicians to call up patient information whenever and wherever it's required."

The long-term goals include limited access to the portal system for general practitioners. This may reduce delays in contacting family doctors, while focusing more on the patients' needs.

According to Andrew Spence, CSC's UK director of healthcare strategy, clinicians like the portal because it is easy to use and requires very little training. "[The portal] will improve continuity of care and clinical productivity, while reducing fragmentation of clinical information, giving the patient a better experience… it brings many of the advantages of an entirely new system but without the same expense, time or disruption."

To install the portal, CSC will work with interoperability platform provider Carefx and their Fusionfx platform. The organizations worked together to deliver the PoC. The portal goes live on 10 June.