BT Rolls Out NPfIT RiO Electronic Patient Record System

December 21, 2009

BT has begun the rollout of new IT systems to community and mental health trusts in the South of England with its first go live at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The system, known as RiO and provided by CSE Healthcare Systems, will be installed at 25 sites across the region over the next 12 months.

The installation is part of the additional business BT was awarded on the NHS National Program for Information Technology (NPfIT) in April this year and is an extension to its London NHS contract.

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is a large-scale deployment. The system will be used over time by about 3,000 people across the Trust’s mental health, learning disability and drug and alcohol services, comprising more than 125 sites and serving 1.3 million people.

The Trust is using the latest version of the RiO electronic patient record system which connects to the Spine – the secure database of key information about a patient’s health and care which forms the core of the NHS Care Records Service – which BT built and is managing on behalf of the NHS.

Sir Jonathan Michael, managing director of BT Health, said: “Going live at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust represents a significant milestone for BT, the Trust and the National Programme for IT.

“This deployment builds on our existing achievements in London where the rollout of RiO to mental and community health trusts is more than 80 per cent complete, bringing tangible benefits to patients and clinicians alike. Today it is in use by nearly 44,000 healthcare professionals.

“As the first Trust to go live since BT’s contract was extended to cover deployment in the South of England, it demonstrates how the National Programme in the South is gathering momentum.”

Fiona Edwards, chief executive at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I’m delighted we are now going live with the RiO system as the first Trust in the South.

This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and determination by skilled and committed staff from Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, BT and its supplier, CSE Healthcare Systems.

“RiO will enable us to offer better care to the people we serve. Our staff work across multiple care settings and geographically dispersed sites, but we will now have accurate, up to date information that is quickly and securely accessible.”

The RiO system has in many cases replaced paper-based systems and is used for community and mental health services including social work and covers a broad range of clinical and administrative functions. Staff can access electronic case records, allocate, share and reassign caseloads and record treatments. Electronic patient records can now be shared by a number of clinicians, spread across a number of sites. This makes it easier and faster to access up-to-date patient information, regardless of where the patient was last treated.

The new version of RiO provides a number of enhancements including single sign on using a smartcard which means staff will not have to remember several different passwords; access to the NHS patient demographic details and access to the electronic booking service, Choose and Book. The Spine connected system also ensures that only staff with a legitimate relationship with the patient may see their clinical information, and every single transaction can be traced.

BT is playing a prominent role in the NPfIT. As well as delivering new IT systems across the NHS in London and the South, BT has built and is managing both N3, the national broadband network and the Spine, the national database and messaging service which underpin the program.