North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust is using XML-based software to
help overcome the issues of duplicate systems arising from its
recent merger.
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When the health trusts merged a year ago, they found they had
two sets of clinical data stored in incompatible legacy systems. In
addition, the trust is running a Citrix thin client environment and
has been having trouble finding companies that cater for this
market.
Then the trust started working with Microscript, owned by New
Era of Networks (Neon). Neon is part of the Microsoft BizTalk
committee which works to promote the adoption of XML as a standard
for integration.
North Tees and Hartlepool bought an integration tool from Neon
to allow it to build a single interface for both its radiology and
its patient administration systems.
The trust reports that using XML has simplified its integration
problems by providing a common information protocol that
standardises the way data is described.
"Previously, users had to go into all four systems separately,
using different log-ins and passwords for each, which was a real
turn off for clinicians," explains John Fitzsimmons, head of health
information at the trust. "Now, people don't realise that they're
pulling data from four disparate systems."
The trust is using Netscape Navigator as a browser front end for
its 500 users. So far, only one interface has been built. But
Fitzsimmons has more plans for the integration tool.
"The idea is to build a 'ward workstation' where users log in
once, enter the patient's NHS number and can access any information
from admissions to pathology results," he says.