Bedford Hospital NHS Trust has upgraded its adult diabetes care management system to Diamond.NET, from software and consultancy provider Hicom, giving access to patient records wherever and whenever there is patient interaction.
The diabetes centre at Bedford Hospital provides both in- and outpatient services to patients with diabetes and endocrine conditions. Diamond.NET, a web-based upgrade of Hicom’s previous Access-based version of the software, has been integrated with the hospital’s laboratory system and Master Patient Index, and interfaces with its Patient Administration System (PAS). Any patient details that are updated on the hospital’s main system are therefore automatically incorporated within Diamond.NET.
The solution is in use by everyone in Bedford’s multidisciplinary team, consisting of doctors, diabetes specialist nurses, dietitians and podiatrists as well as secretaries and administrative staff. Each user is able to log into Diamond.Net and see a complete record of all diabetes related consultations that have taken place, whether they have been in the hospital, in an outpatient centre or via the phone.
Dr Nick Morrish, Consultant Diabetologist at Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, comments: “Since our initial implementation of Diamond in 1997, it has become the backbone of our diabetes service. We have noticed a significant impact in the organisation of the diabetes department. For example, if one of the multidisciplinary team receives abnormal lab results, they are able to see which clinic that lab result has come from and get a better understanding of what is going on that could have caused the abnormal result. Additionally, the communication within the team has improved as having all of a patient’s information in one place gives us a complete story of what is happening with their diabetes.”
Dr Morrish concludes, “Having immediate access to the information at the point of care ensures we are able to make better informed decisions on patient management. Diamond has given us the ability to quickly search for information and audit data in a way, which would be impossible with paper records. It has had a major positive impact on the way in which we are able provide diabetes care to our patients.”
