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22/04/05 First E-Health Innovation Awards Winners Announced Healthcare IT projects across the UK acknowledged for their innovative use of IT to deliver efficient and effective treatment for the patient. Health technology projects that help diabetic patients, speed up results reporting for X-rays and scans and deliver vital information for organ transplant teams were among the winning entries in the first E-Health Innovation Awards 2005, celebrated last night. The awards, organised by Intellect and E-Health Insider, have been designed to highlight the application and use of innovative ICT solutions in the UK healthcare sector and reward the partnership approach of the public and private sector in delivering benefits to the patient. Six winning project teams collected their awards at a gala dinner and ceremony in London. "Technology plays a vital enabling role in the modernisation of the healthcare service and in the delivery of improved patient care", John Higgins, Director General, Intellect. "The awards were developed because the industry believed it was important to start recognising and rewarding the brightest and best work in UK healthcare information technology." "The six winners of the inaugural E-Health Innovation Awards are shining examples of best practice work in Healthcare IT, and demonstrate just how much can be achieved when an effective partnership approach is adopted between the public and private sector", concluded Higgins. Linda Davidson, Director, E-Health Insider added: "The winners show what can be achieved when health professionals, managers and suppliers harness IT to improve services, increase efficiency and empower patients. It's been a great privilege to meet all the finalists – not just the winners. They are really showing the way for everyone in healthcare."
The E-Health Innovation Awards 2005 included five categories and winners were announced at the awards ceremony held at the Congress Centre, London, 21 April 2005. The winners are as follows:
Award for best use of mobile technology: Blackberry Transplant Organisation: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Transplant co-ordinators at Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s famous transplant centre used to carry around 200 A4 sheets of information – some of it out of date - about patients waiting for new organs. A switch to handheld Blackberry devices, linked to a central server, now enables the co-ordinators to access or update the records instantly.
Award for best use of e-health to deliver integrated care: Implementing an electronic patient record system for allied health professionals working in the community Organisations: Ethical Technology Limited (Ethitec), Charnwood and NW Leicestershire PCT, and Leicestershire Health Informatics Service
The implementation of Ethitec's Tiara system has improved communication between allied health professionals when they are treating the same patient and transformed the appointments system to the point where, for example, the podiatry waiting list is now virtually zero. Award for best use of e-health to empower patients: The t+ diabetes product Organisation: e-San Ltd
t+Diabetes is a new way of recording healthcare data and providing real-time personalised feedback over a mobile phone to people with diabetes. The development version of the t+ product has been tested in a randomised controlled trial run by Oxford University’s department of public health and primary care.
The trial showed a significant positive influence on blood sugar control for the group using the product. The outcomes were achieved as a result of high compliance in the group using t+ and the key features of the system: real-time feedback and support from nurses when abnormal readings were picked up.
Award for best use of e-health to improve efficiency in healthcare: Increasing efficiency in Radiology through PACS and speech recognition Organisations: Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust and Philips Speech Recognition Systems A chronic shortage of radiology secretaries sparked interest in the use of speech recognition technology to aid workflow at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital, Goole. A new picture archiving and communication system arrived last year and the combined effect of the two technologies - plus a great deal of human effort - has seen the average time from examination to report authorisation drop from 17.66 days to 4.56 days – an efficiency increase of 74%.
Award for most innovative e-health product – this was awarded to two winners: Historian - automated psychiatric history taking on the internet Organisation: North East London Mental Health Trust
Automated history taking is not new but the innovative approach taken by Historian, devised by Dr Jason Taylor, is. The program enables histories to be taken in more than 15 languages, including many that are common among refugees, and offers English output to the assessing professional. The system enables patients to complete the history at home and helps professionals to appraise psychiatric referrals rapidly and prioritise services.
Also winner of the most innovative e-health product award: EMIS Access Organisation: EMIS
EMIS Access allows patients to view, book and cancel appointments through a secure website. Practices choose which of their surgeries appear online. When appointments are booked, their clinical systems are updated immediately to prevent double booking. In addition, a pilot in South Yorkshire is offering patients the option of booking via a digital television set using the remote control. EMIS estimates that if just 10% of UK appointments were booked using the system the NHS would save £14.6 million.
About E-Health Insider E-Health Insider is the only independent online news and information service dedicated to UK healthcare information technology. Over 12,000 information technologists, managers, clinicians and others with a special interest in healthcare IT are registered users of the E-Health Insider portal and are readers of its weekly e-mailed newsletter. In addition to news services, E-Health Insider provides comment and analysis, a library of key documents and a recruitment service. More information about e-Health Insider can be found at: http://www.e-health-insider.com/
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