News
IT key to success of Scotland's diabetic retinopathy screening
programme
19 June 2008
Siemens and NHS Scotland have announced the success of a national
diabetic retinopathy screening service powered by Soarian, the company's
workflow solution.
A year on from the programme go-live, the use of an IT system to
automate procedures such as appointment booking and letter generation
has successfully coordinated preventative screening appointments for up
to 150,000 diabetic patients per year over a vast region of 30,888
square miles.
Diabetic retinopathy, if left untreated, is the leading cause of
blindness in the working age population, but with appropriate
ophthalmological intervention, can be prevented.
14 Health Boards across Scotland from NHS Western Isles to NHS
Borders have been linked together over both acute and primary care
sectors, enabling the smooth communication across all layers of the care
continuum. More information is now instantly readily available, such as
appointment information and patient results, increasing the speed of
reporting times and reducing waiting periods.
“Having successfully implemented the new screening programme, the NHS
in Scotland is now providing regular annual checks to people with
diabetes across a huge geographical area integrated into wider diabetes
care,” states Deirdre Evans, Director of the National Services Division,
NHS National Services Scotland. “Soarian is delivering considerable
benefits and it will have a significant impact on the quality of care
for patients and the long term effects of diabetic retinopathy in
Scotland.”
NHS Scotland decided to tackle the chronic condition of diabetic
retinopathy by regularly screening diabetic patients. It wanted to
introduce a single, national programme for screening, to cover a wide
geographical area and cross the boundaries of Health Boards, hospitals,
ophthalmology departments and private sector high street opticians if
necessary. The project demanded a robust and flexible IT solution, to
which the Soarian IT solution from Siemens provided the answer.
Now, a year on, both the Health Boards and patients have benefited
from Soarian’s patient focused and process orientated approach. Manual
administrative tasks such as appointment scheduling and letter writing
have been reduced. Every diabetic patient over 12 years of age in
Scotland on the database automatically receives a letter advising them
to book an appointment, allowing them to choose when and where they want
to attend. Soarian has also optimised the availability of the patient
record, giving clinicians the ability to view a record remotely and
refer it to another clinician elsewhere, useful if a second opinion is
needed.
Deirdre Evans continued, “We faced a number of challenges along the
way due to the diverse range of locations, remote access issues and the
number of partners required to deliver the project, but the dialogue was
good and Siemens addressed each issue professionally. In our case,
Soarian had to be modified to meet specific requirements but its
adaptability is one of its key strengths.”
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