Coventry trust switches to automated reporting

In a nutshell
Organisation:	University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.
Problem:	The daily list of required patient records generated by the hospital’s existing appointments system had to be converted to a format that could be shared with logistics company TNT’s systems (a partner in the private sector).
Solution:	Installation of Monarch Data Pump — a leading report-mining program.
Supplier:	Datawatch Europe.
Benefits:	Ease of use — no programming or technical skills needed by users. Works alongside the organisation’s existing system, so no need to implement new IT systems. Rapid return on investment — time and resource savings are quick and easily identifiable. Saves time: report-mining approach offers much faster results than conventional programming.

University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) is proving a standard bearer for all that’s best in the UK health service. The new university ‘super hospital’, in Coventry, is the largest in the country, seeing 1 million patients a year and hosting 30,000 appointments each week. Employing hundreds of top specialists, it has low waiting times and is, technologically speaking, one of the best-equipped hospitals in Western Europe.

In a hospital boasting a purpose-built helicopter pad, the only PET scanner outside London, and Internet, TV and radio access at every patient’s bed, the technology department cannot afford simply to ‘keep up’ — it has to be pioneering.

As the healthcare industry moves towards electronic storage and recording of patient records, UHCW’s Chief Technology Officer, Nick Elliott, needed to make sure UHCW got it right. He decided to outsource storage and delivery of patient records to logistics firm TNT.

This meant it was essential that the daily list of required records, generated by the hospital’s legacy appointments system, had to be converted to a format that could be shared with TNT’s systems. Here IT services provider Datawatch’s Monarch Data Pump server — an automated reporting system that can combine and manipulate data into a format that suits the user — came into its own.

Elliott considered developing a system in-house, but this would not have been possible in the time available. Installing Monarch Data Pump, and using the expertise of Datawatch consultants, meant that the system was built, tested and working in a week: “Datawatch understood the problem, the urgency; responded flexibly to help us, including coming on site to ensure that the system was up and running in time”, said Elliott. Delays could have meant patients arriving at appointments without the right notes being ready, and this was unacceptable — every day counted.

And installation is only half the story. Other applications will be required in the future, and here Elliott was very pleased with the report-mining method that underpins Datawatch products: “It’s much better than a programming approach”, he said. “It makes the system easier to maintain, as models and projects can be altered or developed by non-technical staff, so the process is not dependent on IT resources.”

“Data Pump also allows us to consider other ways of sharing data internally, as well as with other hospitals and with other private sector partners”, said Elliott. “I expect to be using the Data Pump server for more projects, and to make more use of Datawatch’s model-building services. I’m also sending two members of staff on a training course to give them the skills to maintain the system and extend its use.

“And it has potential not only for medical records, but for all situations where data from existing systems needs to be shared or transformed.”

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