Helping organisations throughout the UK to stay compliant today

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has multiple fundamental standards that they look for today, including ensuring that practices gain the right patient consent, that they're safeguarding properly, that they're providing the right staff training and that they're offering safe and person-centred care.

All done in the aim of ensuring the best care provision, that's only a smattering of the things that practices must stay on top of too. But while maintaining compliance might seem complicated, there are things you can do to make it simpler. And the answer as to how is just as simple: technology.

"We know that ensuring your practice is meeting the right regulations and policies is still just as important as in the 50s," explains Jamie Driver, one of our product managers. "That's why our Introdoc247 solution is so important to the practices it supports. With a full audit trail and the ability to edit documents live, it doesn't just make working together easier, it makes staying compliant at all times simpler too."

For Hayley Whitehead, reception manager at Chadfield Medical Practice, Intradoc247 has had a big impact on her practice's processes. As she says, "Intradoc247 is a huge help for training. Staff can see when their training is due and I can send them reminders. It's really important to keep up to date with training."

"An outstanding event in the history of British medicine"

Those words, quoted from The Practitioner, marked just how monumentally important the College of General Practitioners' formation was.

Beginning with a quote is particularly apt when we consider the fact that it was another quote that sparked the idea for the College in the first place. On 3 December 1951, John Hunt remarked to Fraser Rose that, "I had far rather start with a big idea in a small way than a small idea in a big way."

From there, the College was founded on a shared belief that general practice needed an academic body to support good standards of practice, education and research. First planned in 1951 by a small group of doctors, the College's inaugural meeting took place in February 1952.

By the same time the next year – February 1953 – 1,655 doctors had joined the institution. And with membership continuing to rise ever since, the idea of aiming big even if starting small was shown to be a truly great one.

Forever changing the way practices operate

Clinical IT systems caused a seismic shift in the way general practice operated when first introduced, something that GP Mark Purvis witnessed first-hand. Now retired, he told us of the impact technology had during the early days of his career:

"I introduced the first computer into our practice in 1989. Our practice manager sewed a dust cover to protect it while our receptionist could be seen giving it a wide berth for the first few months. Even then, I could see that once we got past the initial up-front work of getting everything set-up and coded, it was going to transform the way we worked.

And it did. That first computer revolutionised repeat prescribing for us and significantly reduced transcription errors. It also gave us a chance to take some early steps around auditing and assessing the quality of what we were already doing so that we could make more informed improvements."

While decades might have passed since their first use, clinical IT systems continue to have a major impact on care today. And with years of evolution and development having refined what they can do, they now sit at the heart of practices across the country.

EMIS Web, our clinical IT system, allows practice to not only view and update records at the point of care, but also supports them to join up working across different care settings. By allowing clinicians to share expertise and information, it's helping them to deliver better patient care.

Take a look at Alvanley Family Practice's story below to see the difference EMIS Web is making to them right now:

A wide range of benefits from a diverse range of integrated solutions

A pretty much sure-fire way for practices to make a whole host of improvements is by integrating their clinical solutions – and that's exactly what our partner programme is all about.

There are some impressive stats out there that prove just how useful integration can be too. In fact, we found that our integrated devices saved practices an average of five minutes and 39 seconds in every single consultation. And that time saving meant that, on average, each practice could see another 15 patients per week.

We're dedicated to developing our partner programme, and it's successes like these that show just how important it is to do so. As Gordon Lorimer, our strategic partner director details, development is intertwined in our programme's history – and is an integral part of where we want to take it next:

"We started in 2000 in order to bring specialist innovations to our customers," he explains. "Our programme has moved on significantly since then. Today, every practice that uses EMIS Web also uses an average of seven of our partners' products.

We're currently investing in new technology and processes that'll streamline interoperability and access to customer data, in accordance with all the correct legal, ethical and regulatory guidelines. As a result, we hope to significantly increase the number of accredited partners over the next 12 to 18 months."

If you want to learn even more about our partner products, take a look at our website here.

Saving two hours every day by electronically prescribing

The Project Surgery is saving dozens of minutes per day by using our Anywhere Consult devices to electronically prescribe. Watch their story via the video below to see how:

Supporting CCGs to join up healthcare across areas

Over a third of CCGs use only our solutions across their area, so we really understand just how important it is for them to the have the right technology in place to both support and work with their practices.

To ensure that these CCGs have all that they need to achieve their aims, we not only work with them, but also build a relationship with them. If you want to see the impact that this kind of collaborative working can have, then look no further than Herefordshire CCG.

St Michaels' Hospice went live with EMIS Web in March 2019 as part of Herefordshire CCG's wider One Record programme. Working closely with hospice staff, we configured EMIS Web for use across a number of different services, including hospice at home, physiotherapy, in-patient and day services, among others.

As Dr Ian Roper, GP IT lead for Herefordshire CCG explained, the first deployment was a vital step in helping the CCG to reach its goals: "We are delighted to be rolling out EMIS Web across Herefordshire and working with St Michael's Hospice to be the first to use the system. This is a positive step in improving care across the county. We are looking forward to continuing this work with our other partners in joining up healthcare".

Helping to get patients more involved in their own care

By using Patient Access, teams across Haughton Thornley Medical Centres are giving patients the ability to keep up to date with their health record as it evolves.

But that's not the end of the story – Haughton Thornley is also one of the only practice groups in the UK to offer patients access to comprehensive services online, including test results and detailed consultation notes.

Together, the services have made a big difference to the practices' patients. As Ingrid Brindle, patient participation group chair says, "I have a feeling of control over my information, so I've been able to look after myself. I've been able to know that I'm doing the right things."

Learn more about what Haughton Thornley is achieving with Patient Access by seeing their story below:

Reducing DNAs by 50% by offering alternative services

The first GP online consultation using our technology took place back in May 2018. Skip forward to today, and we've now helped over 190 practices to offer alternative care options to their total list size of 1,537,023 patients.

That's not where the stats end though. Seventy-five practices are now live with Video Consult, whereas during the three-month period between May and August 2019, over 16,400 patients submitted forms using Online Consult.

Let's end with one more key figure, this time belonging to Stratford Village Surgery. By using our solutions to offer their patients more options, in just one month alone, they saw an impressive 50% reduction to both DNAs and calls.

View their story and see the impact this reduction has had by watching our video below:

Opening up pathways to local services

The pathways that patients can travel down to get the help they need in their local area have been expanded with Patient Access' community pharmacy-focussed update.

The pharmacy services that patients can now book using Patient Access include in-pharmacy NHS services, such as smoking cessation support and medicine use reviews (MURs). Not only that, but patients can book paid-for private pharmacy services too, like treatment for hair loss and travel vaccinations. Altogether, it means they have much more choice around where and how they receive support and care.

For Jason Keane, Patient Access' CEO, the update is an important one. As he explains, "A key part of the NHS Long Term Plan is focussed on providing clinical services in community pharmacy settings. Patient Access pharmacy bookings support this by enabling patients to search, view and book a wide range of services in their local area. It's an exciting move that will harness the power of community pharmacy in a new way."

Supporting your primary care network

We know how important it is for your primary care network to be able to work collaboratively, share appointments and have access to information on medications, allergies and recent consultations. After all, it's all part of how you can join up care in your local area.

Because of this, we're dedicated to ensuring clinicians across settings have access to the information they need to make safer and more informed decisions.

As the only clinical IT system provider to work across every major healthcare setting in the UK, we're in a unique position to help your primary care network join up services with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in your local area.

Want to know more? Then click here to find out how we can help you.