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The North
Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust (NMUHT) is a busy
district general hospital located in the London Borough of
Enfield, United Kingdom. Treating 28,000 inpatients annually in
addition to more than 128,000 in the Walk-In Centre, NMUHT is
one of London’s busiest hospitals, focusing on providing a full
range of services and offering treatment in cancer care and
other medical specialties.
Multi-Vendor
Environment
NMUHT was one of the first IMPAC users in the
United Kingdom, and when they moved from their previous system
to IMPAC, Mr. Richard Knott, head of medical physics at NMUHT
observed that almost immediately everything improved through new
found reliability and support. “It has meant great strides for
us because it has lowered our system maintenance for the staff
so they can focus on the work at hand. For IMPAC to demonstrate
connectivity to equipment from many vendors, this made a
difference to our ability to adopt the change. And the support
we receive from their local office has been one of the greatest
benefits to date.”
Electronic Patient Charting
Using electronic health records (EHRs), the staff
access electronic patient treatment information from any
workstation within the facility. Knott states “The use of the
EHR has allowed us to meet the statutory mandates to identify
patients prior to treatment. This has enabled us to quickly and
easily verify identification and move forward with treatment.”
The department has many inspiring plans to help
them achieve their goal of becoming a totally electronic
department. “Whilst the goal is ambitious, other important
factors have to be taken into consideration regarding the
conformance with both the National Program for I.T (NPfIT) and
mandated Government statistical reporting,” says Ms. Linda
Goodyear, radiotherapy physics manager. “Achieving mandated
targets of patient waiting time reduction and the supply of
cancer minimum data set information, has escalated the need and
priority to capture data electronically”
Knott adds, “Using this innovative technology to manage our
treatment process allows North Middlesex to advance in this
area. We’ve had enquiries from other local physics departments
that are interested to learn how we utilize these tools, and
we’ve been open to demonstrate this in person. The cancer
patient benefits most of all, with efficient and accurate
records and thorough treatment processes.”
Improving
Efficiency
NMUHT has creatively integrated the use of
IMPAC’s workflow management tool, Quality Check Lists (QCLs) for
assisting with management of the treatment planning process. By
adopting QCLs, the department has been able to streamline
managing their treatment planning process by eradicating the
need to use separate spreadsheets and paper checklists. This has
resulted in saving approximately five minutes per patient for
planning, all contributing to the reduction of wait times and
improving the efficiency in the department.
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North Middlesex University Hospital
Richard Knott, Head of Medical Physics |
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[Email
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