30 January 2014

A hosted paperless records system from EMIS Web has enabled one of England’s biggest NHS occupational health (OH) services to save time and improve healthcare. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s SEQOHS accredited department is responsible for the occupational health for more than 25,000 staff and students at several sites including Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital.

The Occupational Health Service has to keep records on a multi-disciplinary team of medical and administration staff. Anyone treating a patient may have several interactions at multiple sites, and each event has to be recorded in the employee’s file. OHS business manager Andrea Hildred says: “We desperately wanted a system that would enable authorised team members to access and update an employee’s OH file safely, securely and in real-time.

Hildred says that with EMIS Web the process is quicker, safer and more accurate than paper records because the templates drive consistency and information gathered is in real-time. The system enables the department to react better to emergencies. “For example, we support staff who are exposed to blood. In these situations, enabling team members to update immediately the affected individual’s file is fantastic because of the need for speed and accuracy.”

Hildred says preparing clinics is one of the service’s biggest tasks. This means getting each attendee’s file, ensuring clinicians have the right details, and updating individual employee files with notes and actions. “With EMIS Web, we spend much less time on prep because the data is there in a centralised hub.”

The time saved means the system is effectively self-funding. It is also highly adaptable, enabling the organisation to create bespoke templates and reports.

The OH team is now looking at linking EMIS Web to an online health screening programme for assessing the health of student doctors and nurses.