Bath-based IPL’s innovative patient care information system used by The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) has won the Innovation of the Year Award.
Built by IPL, a full-service IT consultancy and services company, the Electronic Referral Information Sharing System (ERISS) helps NWAS in its mission to deliver the right care at the right time in the right place
It does this by enabling multiple care providers to securely share information and manage patient care needs.
Doctors and clinicians can flag up any conditions or care pathways a patient may have in ERISS, and this information is then shared with ambulance crews, thereby ensuring paramedics administer the most appropriate care to the patients they see.
ERISS also enables ambulance crews to quickly and securely make patient care and safeguarding referrals to other providers, thereby helping to avoid unnecessary A&E attendances and helping to protect the vulnerable.
Phill James, NWAS NHS Trust’s Head of Programme Management Office, said: “The improvement in information sharing and decision making provided by ERISS has made a real difference to patients across the North West.
“We are thrilled to be recognised as an innovator in providing integrated patient care and look forward to adding exciting new features to ERISS that further enable us to deliver the right care, at the right time, in the right place.”
Simon Catley, Services Director at IPL, said: “Health informatics is a fast-growing area proving instrumental in the delivery of better patient care, and IPL and NWAS’s system has clearly demonstrated its worth.
“It’s inspiring to see the positive impact that cutting-edge systems such as ERISS can have on patient care and on relieving the pressure on NHS budgets.”
With over 2,300 registered users, ERISS is playing an increasingly important role in providing integrated healthcare services in the North West of England.
“It continues to receive recognition for delivering excellence in healthcare as a finalist for ‘Best use of IT to support integrated healthcare services’ at the E-Health Insider Awards 2014.
For more information on ERISS, please visit www.eriss.nhs.uk or http://www.nwas.nhs.uk/health-professionals/eriss/.
