White PapersNick Elliott, Chief Technology Officer at UHCW, is at the forefront of a department leading the way in many fields. As the NHS moves towards electronic storage and recording of records, he needed to make sure UHCW got it right. To ensure vital hospital space was not consumed in the physical storage of masses of paper, it was decided to outsource storage and delivery of patient records to a partner from the private sector, TNT. This meant it was essential that the daily list of records required, generated by the hospital’s legacy appointments system, had to be converted to a format that could be shared with TNT’s systems. Here Datawatch’s Monarch Data Pump server came in to its own.
Mr Elliott considered developing a system in-house, but this would not have been possible in the time-frame required. Deploying Monarch Data Pump, and using the expertise of Datawatch’s consultants, meant that the system was built, tested and working in a week: “They understood the problem, the urgency; responded flexibly to help us, including coming on site to ensure that the system was up and running on time,” Mr Elliott explains.
University Hospitals of Coventry andWarwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) isproving a standard bearer for all that sbest in the UK health service. Its newUniversity Super Hospital is the largestin the country, seeing 1 million patients ayear, and with 30,000 appointmentseach week. It employs hundreds of topspecialists, has low waiting times,superb clinical and teaching facilitiesand, technologically-wise, is the bestequipped in Western Europe. In a hospital boasting a purpose-built helicopter pad, the only PET scanneroutside London, Picture Archiving andCommunications Systems (PACS) - fortouch of a button X-Rays - as well asInternet, TV and radio access for everypatient bed, the technology departmentcannot afford to simply keep up it hasto be pioneering. Nick Elliott, Chief Technology Officer atUHCW, is at the forefront of a department leading the way in manyfields. As the NHS moves towards electronic storage and recording ofrecords, he needed to make sure UHCWgot it right. To ensure vital hospital spacewas not consumed in the physical storage of masses of paper, it wasdecided to outsource storage and delivery of patient records to a partnerfrom the private sector, TNT. This meantit was essential that the daily list ofrecords required, generated by the hospital s legacy appointments system,had to be converted to a format thatcould be shared with TNT s systems.Here Datawatch s Monarch Data Pumpserver came in to its own. Mr Elliott considered developing a system in-house, but this would not havebeen possible in the time-framerequired. Deploying Monarch DataPump, and using the expertise ofDatawatch s consultants, meant that thesystem was built, tested and working ina week: They understood the problem,the urgency; responded flexibly to helpus, including coming on site to ensurethat the system was up and running ontime, Mr Elliott explains. Delays couldhave meant patients arriving at appointments without the right notesbeing delivered in time, and this wasunacceptable: Every day counted, Mr Elliott adds. Installation is only halfthe story of course. Other applicationswill be required in the future, and hereMr Elliott was very pleased with the report-mining method that underpinsDatawatch s solutions: It s much betterthan a programming approach, he says. It makes the system easier to maintain,as models and projects can be altered ordeveloped by non-technical staff, so theprocess is not dependent on ITresources .Importantly for an NHS Trust looking tothe future, Monarch s Data Pump serveroffers potential: It allows us to considerother ways of sharing data internally, aswell as with other hospitals and withother private sector partners, says Mr Elliott, and adds: I expect to beusing the Data Pump server for moreprojects, and to make more use ofDatawatch s model-building services. I m also sending two members of staffon a training course to give them theskills to maintain the system and extendits use .With a keen eye for potential, the technology head was quick to spot DataPump s: Not only for medical records -but for all situations where data fromlegacy systems needs to be shared ortransformed. Certainly every hospitalshould consider Data Pump to help inthese situations .Data Pump delivers for the flagship of the NHS" Not only for medicalrecords - but for allsituations where datafrom legacy systemsneeds to be sharedor transformed.Certainly every hospital should consider Data Pumpto help in these situations .Nick Elliott, Chief TechnologyOfficer UHCW 2006 Datawatch Corporation.Monarch is a trademark ofDatawatch Corporation. Allother trademarks are propertiesof their respective owners.To receive more information on Monarch sreport-mining, business intelligence andreport-building potential, contact:Datawatch Europe Ltd, 01752 893100email oliver.bond@datawatch-europe.comwww.datawatch-europe.com
