Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has published a tender notice for an ophthalmology electronic medical record solution, looking to replace the current solution it has been using for 20 years with a “suitable replacement” that will “provide the full range of ophthalmology functionality”.
The trust’s existing solution, according to the notice, has “significant gaps and shortcomings and does not provide a comprehensive digital record across all sub-specialties”, with the team also reportedly encountering challenges in making improvements or fixing bugs due to a “degradation in the level of support” as the solution approaches end-of-life.
The notice highlights two key strategic drivers for the upcoming project: ensuring continuity of service, and improving clinical safety and quality; whilst the trust’s ophthalmology clinical strategy for 2020-2025 “specifically identifies the use of digital technology to transform patient pathways”.
It notes the new solution should offer greater integration with Cerner Millennium, and improve communication between teams and sub-specialties, which each require “different combinations of IT systems” to record ophthalmic imaging and diagnostics.
A vital part of the procurement will be around the “capture of imaging and data for asynchronous virtual telemedicine”, and the notice highlights the ability to deliver care remotely, which will be “enabled using these technologies in parallel with a networked Ophthalmology-specific IT infrastructure”.
To read the tender notice in full, please click here.
In related news, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, working with Health Innovation North West Coast, is preparing to launch a tender for a new telehealth platform, with the aim of procuring a flexible system capable of connecting with “more existing and future applications and hardware – such as novel remote monitoring equipment or consumer devices that haven’t yet been adopted or even brought to market.”
And in other news from the region, a new health and wellbeing strategy spanning 2024-2030 has been published by Oxfordshire Health and Wellbeing Board, highlights digital and data as key enablers and pledging to “improve the extent, quality, and accessibility of digital infrastructure and more effectively generate insight from data to inform decision making.”
