http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2259262/gp-hails-data-digitisation-services-potential-to-free-up-time-space-and-money

http://www.gponline.com/News/article/1177094/Digitising-Lloyd-George-files-freed-consulting-room-GP-says/

Computing’s coverage of the new e-LGS records management service for all GPs in the NHS

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2259262/gp-hails-data-digitisation-services-potential-to-free-up-time-space-and-money

http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2013/apr/04/first-paperless-nhs-trust-helps-gps-go-digital

• First dedicated online Lloyd George patient records service in primary care
• New service offers substantial operational benefits and allows practice staff to focus more time on making further improvements to patient care.

April 10, 2013 –  CCube Solutions and St Helens & Knowsley Health Informatics Service (StHK HIS) today announce that Grove House Practice in Runcorn, Cheshire, is the first GP surgery in the UK to use its new hosted electronic Lloyd George Records Service to digitise its complete library, comprising 13,000 legacy patient records.

This will release much needed space in the surgery for clinical activities, improve efficiency, enhance the availability of patient information for medical and support staff, and remove the substantial costs and risks associated with physical records management in primary care. Ultimately it allows practice staff to focus on offering a better service to patients rather than time being spent on unproductive administrative tasks.

The electronic Lloyd George Records Service (e-LGS) is the first solution of its kind in the NHS and comprises a fully managed end-to-end service covering records collection, notes scanning, data hosting, training and support, and portal software. Managed by NHS experts, e-LGS is a secure, easy to set up, and cost effective solution to an old problem.

Dr. David Wilson, Senior Partner GP, Grove House Practice, says, “Digitisation and removal of the Lloyd George records is a logical step given it’s the only area not computerised within our surgery.  The benefits are immediate: practice efficiency and space realisation.  Removing our racking systems for notes means more room available for clinical care.  This is crucial as our role in the NHS broadens and we take on more counselling services, GP registrar training, and some work shifts from secondary to primary care.”

This means that e-LGS now stores all patient information from before the year 2000 which is when Grove House Practice stopped physically writing notes on sheets and switched to an electronic clinical system. The practice has 11,000 patients and 13,000 patient envelopes [some patients have more than one envelope]. In terms of storage, this took up a third of its reception area which will now be repurposed.

Grove House Practice staff access the system using a standard Internet browser, and once logged in, the portal displays four chapters: patient correspondence (letters), continuation cards, results and summary reports.

Joanne Hughes, Deputy Practice Manager, explains, “Information is now available at a touch of a button. You select a patient, choose the appropriate chapter and this allows you to  review all the scanned documents associated with that individual.  It’s a simple viewing tool which allows you to magnify and print documents if you want, and required just 10 minutes of training to use.”

Although Lloyd George records are not usually used in day-to-day patient consultations, it is obligatory for practices to keep them as they are often required by GPs when reports are written for solicitors, insurers and other officials, and access to historical patient information is needed.

With paper, records would be requested, a receptionist dispatched to find and deliver the files, and then a GP would have to unravel pages of crumpled and dusty sheets to locate the section required, with everything then put back afterwards.  Furthermore, practice staff would have to photocopy pages for reports and also send files to its local health authority when patients change surgeries.

Jacky Slator, Practice Manager, says, “We estimate we were spending at least half a day per a week moving and copying files.  Today, everything is available online when we need it and if we need to export data, it’s done using encrypted discs.”

In addition to the financial, space and information access benefits, e-LGS is simple to administer, removes the risk of paper being incorrectly filed, improves the working environment as clutter is removed, and preserves information as digitising content eliminates the issue of paper medical records deteriorating over time [crucial as some paperwork can be over 50 years old].

The electronic Lloyd George Records Service is offered to all GP practices in the UK and was created through a partnership between StHK HIS and electronic document management software (EDMS) vendor, CCube Solutions, with Kodak scanners used for digitising records.

All patient data is hosted and backed-up securely and managed by StHK HIS in its fully resilient datacentres.

- ENDS -

 About Grove House Practice

Based in Runcorn, Cheshire, Grove House Practice operates from the St Paul’s Heath Centre, a modern facility opened in 1981 which it shares with another GP’s surgery.  A partnership owned by four general practitioners, Grove House Practice employs 33 staff in total including six GPs, four nurses, two healthcare assistances and support staff who look after around 11,000 patients.  For further information, please visit www.grovehouse.co.uk

For further information, please contact

Tom Herbst
Tom Herbst PR
T:07768 145571
Email: tom@tomherbstpr.co.uk

http://www.informationweek.co.uk/healthcare/electronic-medical-records/can-british-docs-give-up-envelopes-as-st/240152044

http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/EHI/8506/lloyd-george-records-go-electonic

• Clinical Commissioning Groups, Halton, Knowsley and St Helens, adopt the new service for 85 constituent GP surgeries
• Runcorn GP, Grove House Practice, the first to use e-LGS in the UK

April 4, 2013 – St Helens & Knowsley Health Informatics Service (StHK HIS) today announces the launch of e-LGS (Electronic Lloyd George Records Service), a new fully managed service to digitise, archive and host Lloyd George patient records held by all general practitioners (GPs) in their surgeries.  The e-LGS service is being delivered in partnership with CCube Solutions, an award winning electronic document management software company who has extensive experience working in the NHS and the broader public sector.

Designed to free up space, improve practice efficiency, make patient information instantly available when required, remove risk, and save GPs money on administration, e-LGS offers substantial benefits and is the first computerised service of its kind in the NHS.

The fully managed end-to-end e-LGS solution comprises project management, Lloyd George records collection by NHS employed drivers, notes scanning, secure data hosting, training and support, software licenses, regular record updates, with the entire content of the Lloyd George envelope then made available electronically for GPs and practice staff to view online using a custom developed portal.

The portal digitally replicates the contents of the paper record and is split into four main chapters: patient correspondence (letters), continuation cards, results and summary reports.

Vijay Magon, CCube Solutions’ managing director, says, “Lloyd George records are a huge burden on the efficiency of almost all UK GP practices at a time when everyone is tasked with improving care, being more productive and cutting cost. Medical information in Lloyd George envelopes isn’t used in day-to-day consultations.  It’s reference material used by GPs when they write letters to solicitors or insurance companies or provide a historical view on a patient to clinical colleagues. GPs have to keep the envelopes as they follow patients around the NHS when people change practices.”

Neil Darvill, Director of Informatics at StHK HIS explains, “Based on our experience and success digitising records in secondary care, we’re now extending this with e-LGS to offer GPs nationwide a service to remove the Lloyd George notes headache they universally face.  The service is targeted, cost effective and easy to deploy, managed within the NHS by our Informatics staff with patient data stored in our secure data centres.”

The benefits of using e-LGS for GPs and practice managers

The e-LGS solution delivers considerable return-on-investment:

• Frees up premium surgery space currently used for file storage which can be better utilised given the specific needs of individual practices. This is crucial as the role of GPs broadens in the NHS. For example, space could be repurposed as an additional consulting room or for registrar training, better administration facilities or a larger reception area created for patients; all focused towards offering further improvements in patient care;
• Provides fast access to historical patient information for GPs and practice staff when responding to requests for information from insurers, solicitors and other officials, ensuring the right information can be accessed by the right person at the right time.  Patient records are available at the touch of a button and can be saved to encrypted disc for easy and secure distribution to third parties.  This means clerical staff avoid having to search and retrieve records, sort through dusty and crumpled files, and laboriously photocopy sections.
• Frees practice staff to focus more time on making further improvements to patient care;
• Saves money on external storage;
• Removes the risk of paper in files being misplaced or lost;
• Removes the risk of damage to patient records by damp or fire;
• Removes the health & safety risk of paper clutter and storage for practice staff, as well as improving their working environment;
• Allows the reorganisation of administrative processes to improve practice efficiency;
• Provides multiple user access to Lloyd George records content within practices;
• Captures patient information in perpetuity in contrast to paper which deteriorates over time;
• Allows easier sharing of patient information within the broader NHS should individuals leave a practice;
• Service availability is guaranteed to ensure patient information is accessible when required. Key performance indicators (service level agreements) set this out contractually.

Hosted e-LGS easy for GPs to access, with records quality guaranteed

Designed to be intuitive and simple-to-use, authorised GPs and practice managers access e-LGS using a standard Internet browser on their normal desktop PCs or laptops with broadband connectivity provided by the NHS National Network (N3) or via Community of Interest Networks (COIN).

Once the content of the Lloyd George records are scanned, the paperwork is securely destroyed with only the original envelope retained, and returned to the GP Practice.

Neil Darvill adds, “We guarantee the quality of scanned records will be the same if not better than paper, with a lead GP or designated member of staff asked to approve a percentage of the records scanned for quality assurance purposes prior to disposal – a process we have legal authority to do.  A Certificate of Destruction is then provided from a waste disposal firm authorised to shred confidential information.”

The e-LGS solution is available to all GP practices in the UK and was created through a close collaboration between the StHK HIS and electronic document management software (EDMS) vendor, CCube Solutions, based on a track record of success in secondary care.    CCube Solutions’ EDMS software is being used to index and store the patient records, with a simple-to-use customised portal developed for GPs to quickly access this information.

StHK HIS is a pioneering organisation in medical records management employing a team of 75 staff in its scanning bureau. In 2010, it was the first in the country to install an EDMS solution so that Whiston and St Helens hospitals could stop using paper health records in clinical practice – an award-winning project also completed in close collaboration with CCube Solutions, along with Kodak who provided the scanner hardware.

Clinical Commissioning Groups and GPs are already embracing the e-LGS opportunity

Grove House Practice, a surgery in Runcorn, Cheshire, has already gone live with e-LGS and is reaping the benefits of the new service by digitising its whole Lloyd George library comprising 13,000 legacy patient records.

In addition, e-LGS has recently being selected by three Clinical Commissioning Groups – Halton CCG, Knowsley CCG and St Helens CCG – who between them support 85 GP practices and almost 500,000 patients. Lloyd George records scanning will take a year to fully roll out and involves digitising approximately 28 million pages.

Paul Brickwood, Chief Finance Officer, Halton, Knowsley & St Helens CCGs, says, “e-LGS is one of those solutions which is so compelling it’s tough to ignore.  With the NHS tasked to be ever more efficient, e-LGS means we can quickly cut out paper and all the issues this involves while providing a tool for clinicians and practice staff to improve productivity, save money, use space more effectively and focus on what really ultimately counts which is patient care and service and safety.”

Deploying e-LGS, IT requirements and pricing

With the service now available nationwide, e-LGS is affordable and easy to deploy for GP surgeries with full training and support provided. The e-LGS solution is compatible with Microsoft Windows and only requires standard PCs with at least one DVD-RW drive available.

To start the service, all that practice staff have to provide StHK HIS is a full list of patient files being sent including demographic detail such as name, address and NHS number, and boxed patient records logically filed by either name or number.

With five concurrent licenses provided as standard, the fully managed service costs 60p per Lloyd George envelope per year, (regardless of number of documents in an envelope), over a minimum five-year contractual period. Discounts are available for volume.  New patients coming into a practice will also be added to the system at agreed regular intervals, meaning less and less paper records held in GP Practices.

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About St Helens & Knowsley Health Informatics Service

Founded in 2000, St Helens & Knowsley Health Informatics Service (StHK HIS) is a unique shared service delivering IT solutions and support for every type of NHS organisation from commissioners to provider services, primary, secondary and tertiary care, along with mental health.

The fundamental components of StHK HIS are built on an industry standard ICT infrastructure, robust information systems and business processes, expert in-house staff, and a culture of delivery to ensure strategy and innovation meets clinical and business needs. StHK HIS provides informatics services to six key organisations, encompassing 14,000 users located at 155 sites.

For further information about e-LGS, please visit www.e-lgs.sthk.nhs.uk or call 0151 478 7999.

For further information, please contact

Tom Herbst
Tom Herbst PR
T:07768 145571
Email: tom@tomherbstpr.co.uk

Please Here to read More

CCube Solutions has been selected by the Aneurin Bevan Health Board to deliver a Trust- wide electronic document and records management system (EDRMS). The Health Board provides acute, community, mental and child health services to 639,000 people in South Wales, approximately 21% of the total Welsh population.

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