Torbay Care Trust Awards Contract to Simpl UK to Develop
a Single Community Care Record
· Simpl customises and deploys CRM using agile development principles to create Single Community Care Record (SCCR)
· SCCR enables staff to spend more time with clients and patients
One of the country’s few providers of integrated health and adult social services, Torbay Care Trust, has begun work with healthcare IT advisor and integrator Simpl and Simpl’s public sector CRM partner, Optevia, to create a Single Community Care Record (SCCR) for health & social care. The Trust, which provides health and social care services in Torbay and southern Devon, will use the system to provide staff with office and remote offline access to comprehensive and secure records of patient and client care details. Once deployed the Single Community Care Record will provide staff with access to the right information to deliver the right care in the right place and at the right time.
Built using Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the SCCR will eventually replace the Trust’s existing care record system, and will integrate with third party systems. It follows a successful trial of Microsoft Dynamics CRM by the Trust’s Community Matrons, who support patients with particularly complex needs and multiple conditions. The SCCR will include the application of Microsoft Dynamics CRM offline functionality to enable offline working practices.
The SCCR will support the further development of the Care Trust’s integrated approach to care, improving information sharing and management across professional disciplines. This will enable improved effectiveness and efficiency of services, increase the ability of the Trust and its staff to react to people’s changing needs and support even greater integration at every level of the Trust.
The system will be used by office and community based staff to deliver benefits for all staff involved in the delivery and administration of community based health and social care services and the customers who receive those services. The Trust’s community based staff, such as district nurses, social workers, therapists and learning disabilities care staff will derive particular benefit through offline access to the SCCR, via tablet PC or smartphone, and automatic scheduling. These developments will release staff time which is currently consumed in non-productive activities such as transcribing patient notes and booking follow up care.
“It has been clear to us for some time that we needed to employ more innovative and more integrated technology to support our frontline staff, and enable them to deliver the safest and most effective care to their clients and patients,” said Mandy Seymour, Chief Operating Officer for Torbay Care Trust.
“The new Single Community Care Record will make it possible for these staff to view, update, and monitor records whilst they are out in the community; something which can currently only be done from an office environment. This has enormous benefits in terms of maximising staff-time with patients and clients, providing them access to the most up-to-date information about a person’s care and needs, and removing unnecessary travelling.”
“Our staff will be working alongside Simpl and Optevia in developing this new system to ensure it is as intuitive and useful as possible, and I am looking forward to realising the full benefits of this technology during the coming months.”
The contract began in October 2011 and as prime contractor, Simpl is responsible for programme, project and change management. During the first 6-week period Simpl and Optevia will be working with Trust staff to understand their specific and detailed requirements for the SCCR.
Optevia will then configure the Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This will include use of third-party tools to ensure the SCCR will render correctly on mobile devices and will also create a common set of CRM forms that all staff, in all departments, can use for obtaining information from patients. Following deployment, Simpl UK will also provide 24/7 help desk support over a 5-year period.
“The use of agile development principles will enable the SCCR to evolve through collaboration between Simpl, Optevia and Torbay Care Trust in short ‘sprints’,” says Paul Malcolm, EMEA regional director, Simpl UK. “We collectively agree what part of the SCCR it is most important that we build next, then we demonstrate working production quality software back to the customers at the end of the sprint. It’s a highly interactive process that ensures Torbay Care Trust gets the product it wants, a product it is immediately familiar with and a product that can be sent live at any time.”
Tim Vernon, managing director of Optevia says: “The deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will bring together the latest version of the product and a raft of best of breed technology, deployed using skills and techniques we’ve honed over the past 8 years, since helping Microsoft launch Dynamics CRM into the UK Public Sector.” He continues: “We are therefore very confident that the cost and service benefits of the SCCR can be realised effectively to support Torbay Care Trust and the patients it serves.”
For more information, please contact:
Gavin Loader or Toby Gavin
Mantis Public Relations Ltd
Tel: + 44 (0) 845 299 0684
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