Ministry of Health for Singapore visits UK to see
Success of National Programme

The Ministry of Health (MOH) for Singapore recently visited the UK to see for themselves how patient care has been improved across the Capital since the introduction of the NHS London Programme for IT (LPfIT).

The MOH, whose vision is to keep Singaporeans in good health by developing the world’s most cost-effective healthcare system, saw London’s first step on the journey towards the national electronic shared health care record system which will enable health professionals to share information and work more effectively together.

The visit, which took place at Richmond and Twickenham Primary Care Trust, enabled the MOH to see one of the LPfIT’s success stories and the implementation of IT in Community Trusts. 

Richmond and Twickenham Primary Care Trust (RTPCT) was chosen for the visit because it was one of the first of the thirty one Primary Care Trusts in London to have completed a Trust-wide switch to electronic records using CSE Servelec’s RiO system.  The PCT works closely with the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames, local voluntary organisations, patients, carers and the local community to develop services and improve the health of the local population.

CSE Servelec is playing a prominent role in LPfIT, part of the world’s largest civilian IT programme – the NHS National Programme for IT. It is a key supplier to BT which is responsible for upgrading NHS IT systems across the capital from GP surgeries and mental and community health trusts to acute hospitals.

On arrival the delegation was welcomed by the PCT’s Director of Community Health Services, Lesley McLennan-Yeo and Associate Director of Information Management, Graham Obeney, along with representatives from the London Programme for IT (LPfIT), BT and CSE Servelec. 

The delegation was brought up to speed on the National and London Programme for IT, RiO’s place in BT’s London IT strategy and the deployment of RiO at RTPCT.  The delegation also saw, first hand, how RiO delivers a broad range of clinical and administrative functions which address the needs of the PCT’s care professionals working across the community. 

RTPCT explained that, by using RiO, they are able to proactively plan their team caseloads and have instant access to up to date patient information, which improves the level of care and relieves some of the demand for hospital beds. Patients can then be referred to other services from within RiO.

Graham Obeney said, “RiO has been extremely well received by the PCT. It replaces several outdated legacy systems including ones that were paper based, making it much simpler and faster for our Clinicians and their managers to access data across care settings and manage their workloads, enabling the delivery of more integrated and co-ordinated care.” 

Alan Stubbs, Managing Director for CSE Servelec stated, “I am delighted that the Ministry of Health has chosen to visit the UK and had the opportunity to see how RiO has been deployed across London. It is very encouraging for us to see that our system has international appeal.

RiO has been proven to deliver benefits to the NHS and we look forward to growing its success story further a field. Our partnership with NHS Connecting for Health and BT has delivered real clinical benefits to both patients and clinicians throughout London.”

The deployment of RiO, which is hosted from BT’s Data Centres, is a major success for BT, NHS Connecting for Health and the system’s creator CSE Servelec.   The Sheffield-based Healthcare Systems developer has a long track record in the delivery of clinical systems to the NHS with proven benefits to both patients and staff.

October 2007