23rd July 2012 - Ascribe is pleased to announce that eHandover, the award-winning clinical IT handover solution, has been selected by Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Mid Cheshire) for use within the Emergency Care Division at the Trust. eHandover has been designed by clinicians to replace the paper-based systems currently used to manage the clinical handover of patients that take place during shift changes.
Mid Cheshire is a long-standing Ascribe customer, having used Ascribe’s Web Pharmacy solution for many years. It is the second acute Trust to order the eHandover solution, originally developed by Ascribe in partnership with Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The eHandover solution will replace their current paper-based system and is designed to improve patient safety and reduce risks associated with the breakdown in communication that occurs during traditional patient handovers at shift changes. Ascribe eHandover centralises key patient information making it accessible, enabling informed decisions to be made and patient care to be planned.
Ascribe’s eHandover solution, which is built using Microsoft® SharePoint technology, was awarded an EHI Award for ‘Best use of IT to promote patient safety’ in 2011, in recognition of its effective communication and coordination of clinical handover, important factors in the continuity of quality care.
Dr Shirley Hammersley, at Mid Cheshire, commented “effective handover is crucial to safe, high quality patient care and we are excited to be working with Ascribe to put this innovative solution in place to support delivery of effective handover. This has been made possible by the support from a successful application in a highly competitive bidding process to Medical Education England and its Better Training, Better Care project. It is the partnership of specific training and an efficient system that will ultimately improve patient care.”
Stephen Critchlow, CEO at Ascribe, commented “Informing carers, as patients move from one care setting to the next, makes a real impact on patient care and safety. We are pleased that Mid Cheshire has chosen Ascribe as the provider for the eHandover solution.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For further information, please contact:
Claire Shuttleworth, Marketing Coordinator, Ascribe Ltd claire.shuttleworth@ascribe.com
Tel: +44 (0) 870 053 4545
About Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the organisation which manages Leighton Hospital, Crewe; the Victoria Infirmary, Northwich and Elmhurst Intermediate care Centre, Winsford. The Trust was originally established as an NHS trust in April 1991 and became a Foundation Trust in April 2008.
It employs approximately 3,200 members of staff and has around 540 hospital beds.
A range of services, including A&E, maternity, outpatients, therapies and children's health are provided for people predominantly from the Crewe, Nantwich, Congleton, Middlewich and Northwich areas, although patients from other areas are also cared for.
About Ascribe
Over 75% of NHS Acute Trusts use Ascribe systems and our commitment to improving healthcare IT has made us a strategic partner for a growing number of Trusts.
Ascribe's clinical systems are robust and scalable, from departmental systems through to strategic enterprise-scale solutions. The company is a Microsoft Gold Partner. In addition developing its own solutions, Ascribe provides professional consultancy personnel for Ascribe, Microsoft and other healthcare IT systems. From Electronic Prescribing through to Paperless Clinical Management and even Pharmacy robotic interfaces, Ascribe's breadth of integrated systems has been proven to help Trusts improve their efficiency and cut costs.
Ascribe recently won the 2012 Microsoft Public Sector Health Partner of the Year Award, standing apart from over 3,000 entrants worldwide.
"The system paid for itself in two months", Senior NHS Clinical Manager.
Ascribe employs 300 personnel through its operating companies in the UK, Kenya, Australia and New Zealand. For more information, please visit http://www.ascribe.com/
About Ascribe eHandover
Ascribe's Award Winning eHandover solution is designed by NHS staff and Ascribe specialists, ensuring streamlined processes to minimise risk and optimise clinician face-time with patients.
Working in partnership with Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), Ascribe and the Trust recognised that a practical solution must be based upon a systematic and structured handover process, supported by easy to use technology. Addressing a single factor, such as staff training or technical solutions does not provide a complete solution or deliver patient-centred benefits.
Ascribe eHandover is based on standard Microsoft® tools that are readily available in most Trusts, as well as already being familiar to clinicians – it is no exaggeration to say that a Doctor can learn to use this solution in minutes.
Ascribe eHandover is a practical and working solution that has been used to handle over 50,000 handovers for patients at BHRUT to date. The solution won an EHI Award for ‘Best use of IT to promote Patient Safety’ in 2011.
© Ascribe 2012. Ascribe is a registered trademark. All other brands and product names and trademarks are the registered property of their respective companies.