Not that it matters
Every now and again, the Journal publishes an issue that is a
miscellany — that is, it does not set out to have any particular theme, but
instead covers a variety of topics. Such an issue has a number of benefits,
of which not the least is that the editorial column can be about anything at
all that takes the writer’s fancy — if he can only think of something.
Contrary to the generally held opinion, AA Milne did not write only
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. He was also an
accomplished and amusing essayist, and in a piece, written in 1919, and
called The pleasure of writing he describes the feeling exactly:
“Sometimes when the printer is waiting for an article which really should
have been sent to him the day before, I sit at my desk and wonder whether
there is any possible subject in the whole world upon which I can possibly
find anything to say. On one such occasion I left it to fate, which decided,
by means of a dictionary opened at random, that I should deliver myself of a
few thoughts about goldfish. But today I do not need to bother about a
subject. Today I am without a care. Nothing less has happened than that I
have a new nib in my pen.”1
That, however, was 1919. Sadly, that age has passed. Somehow, it does not
have quite the same ring to it to say: “Today I am without a care. Nothing
less has happened than that I have a new cartridge in my printer.” Besides,
fate has intervened — not fate as embodied in Milne’s dictionary — but fate
as represented by the articles available for this issue: in the event, they
are all, in one way or another, about the integration of information. This
issue is, therefore, not about a range of topics. It is about one topic.
Today I can say that I am without a care. Nothing less has happened than
that the editorial subject has been decided for me.
The integration of information deriving from different systems is
becoming an increasingly hot topic. Only last month the Journal was
devoted to information sharing across the healthcare/socialcare divide. Many
of the Government’s current policies assume for their success the ability to
share information across sectors. Egovernment aims to make the provision of
services more accessible, and their availability more transparent. More and
more areas of activity are to be patient/client/person centred, a process to
be made possible by common information systems.
Our articles this month illustrate a number of facets of this trend. In
her article, Claire Clague describes the background and role of the
Integrated Care Network and the unique part, to which it aspires, in
bringing together frontline organisations with a mutual responsibility for
varying aspects of care. As such, it is a vital component of the NHS
modernisation agenda with its emphasis on the individual.
Simon McCusker, Terri Holcroft and Paul Hackett review their work in
North Mersey NHS LIS in preparing to introduce electronic booking, one of
the major pillars of NPfIT, where again emphasis on patient choice and
convenience leads to integration of systems across different sectors of the
NHS.
Heather Heathfield examines integration in the context of a particular —
and growing — group of patients, the elderly. Her article describes the work
of the North West eGovernment Group in laying the ground for the creation of
a single-assessment process for the elderly, ahead of any national approach.
In their article, Brian Seaton and Tina Tsoukatos describe the work done
at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital to ensure that clinicians,
nurses, and clerical staff moving about a busy outpatient department have
speedy access to an integrated patient record, without repeated and
time-consuming log-in procedures. This project, an example of how an
integrated record enables smoother working at an intensely practical level,
was recently awarded first place in the technical innovation section of the
2004 HITEA awards.
As more and more information systems go live, not only across the NHS,
but also across all areas of care, both public and private, so the siren
attraction of integrating information amongst them will grow. It would be
wrong however to suppose that the path will be easy. Two of our articles are
devoted to the preliminary work that will be essential. Many to whom
information systems will still be new will need to be comfortable with them
before expanding their horizons to systems operated by other bodies. The
technology is in most cases already there. As with so much of the potential
offered by computing, there may well be many years before humans catch up
with it.
Michael Fairey
Reference
1. Milne AA. Not that it matters. Methuen. 1919. pp1–5. |
