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September 2011 TLC appoints Chief Operating OfficerHelen Glenister has been appointed to The Learning Clinic as Chief Operating Officer. Helen, a qualified nurse, was previously employed as Director of Operations at Humuna Europe. From 2002 to 2008 she was a senior figure at the National Patient Safety Agency, initially employed as Director of Safety Practice and latterly as Deputy Chief Executive. During this time she led numerous patient safety programmes and worked with the World Health Organisation on international patient safety solutions. Roger Killen, Managing Director of The Learning Clinic, said: “Helen is a grounded, practical clinician with a far reaching background in health and healthcare delivery, having worked in and with most sectors. Throughout her career she has developed and taken forward innovative ways to improve the health of individuals and the delivery of patient care – something that Helen is passionate about. We are delighted that she is joining us at this exciting time.” VitalPAC in Department of Health competitionVitalPAC has been entered in both categories of the Department of Health's healthcare apps competition. The context aims to find the most popular existing app as well as the most popular idea for a new app, with the winners set to be showcased at a special event later in the year. Click here and here to see and vote for the VitalPAC entries. Roger Killen to speak at "NHS IT – What's possible"?Managing Director of The Learning Clinic Roger Killen is to speak at an exclusive event examining how information technology is being used to improve healthcare delivery. "NHS IT – What's possible?" is taking place at the Academy of Royal Sciences on 29 September 2011. The day will see a range of leading UK suppliers examine how healthcare IT can and will make a difference. Roger will be talking about VitalPAC – a unique software system which provides genuine real-time clinical information to the clinician wherever and whenever needed. It enables clinicians to record important patient data at the bedside, analyse it instantly, and summon timely and appropriate help when indicated. There will also be presentations from other innovative, complementary and successful firms such as Graphnet, Ardentia, Docobo and Plumtree Group, as well as from E-Health Insider Editor Jon Hoeksma. Click here to see a full agenda. To secure your place at the event, e-mail events@thelearningclinic.co.uk. August 2011 VitalPAC receives coverage on BBC NewsVitalPAC has received coverage on BBC News. Reporters from BBC Spotlight South West travelled to Dorset County Hospital to see the clinical software system in action. The resulting piece, which highlighted how the system helps clinicians monitor their patients and spot any change in condition, was subsequently picked up and aired by other BBC regions. The Learning Clinic creates new consultancy divisionThe Learning Clinic is launching a new consultancy division. Jane Ansell, a highly experienced change consultant who has headed a vast range of projects and programmes throughout her career, has been appointed to head the division. She will be working directly with VitalPAC clients to help them reap the maximum benefits from the product. The Learning Clinic provides expert adviceThe Learning Clinic has responded to a series of consultations on innovation and QIPP (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention), based on experiences of working with clinicians to deliver measurable improvements in care. TLC's response to the Department of Health consultation on innovation emphasised that innovations need to be scalable and their impact measurable, and the NHS in general needs to frame its evaluations in the context of value. The company's response to the Health Select Committee's enquiring on productivity improvements, meanwhile, highlighted how new technologies such as VitalPAC real changes in the way healthcare is delivered. Click here to view our submission to the Innovation Review. Click here to view our submission to Health Select Committee. July 2011 TLC appoints new Nurse DirectorKate Beaumont has been appointed to The Learning Clinic as Nurse Director. For the past eight years Kate has worked for the National Patient Safety Agency, leading on a wide range of patient safety initiatives relating to deterioration and other high risk patient issues. Kate was co-author of the 2007 NPSA report “Recognising and Responding Appropriately to Early Signs of Deterioration in Hospitalised Patients”, is a member of the Patient Safety First campaign core team and led the 2010 NPSA “10 for 2010” Deterioration Programme. Roger Killen, Managing Director of TLC, said “Kate is dedicated to reducing avoidable harm to patients, a core value of The Learning Clinic. She will continue in her mission to raise awareness about patient deterioration and other patient safety agendas. Most importantly, she will work with the team to make sure VitalPAC protects more patients in more intelligent and effective ways, and thereby improves patient care.” June 2011 Alcohol Dependency screening goes liveAlcohol misuse related health and social problems is creating a high and rising burden on all public services. It is estimated that 12% of Emergency Department admissions are directly related to alcohol misuse, but even for intensive care admissions more than 20% of costs are attributable to the consequences of alcohol abuse. The cost to the NHS of alcohol associated health issues is estimated to be £3 billion per year. Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has successfully launched a new VitalPAC module that ensures all admissions to the Trust are screened for alcohol misuse and dependency. The Trust already employs specialist Alcohol Nurses, but has previously struggled to identify many “at risk” patients. Now VitalPAC ensures that every front-line nurse asks each patient the right questions about their use of alcohol and ensures that, whenever indicated, an appropriate referral to the specialist service is actioned. VitalPAC Alcohol Assessment includes a real-time case management feature so that specialist Alcohol Nurses can easily identify and track all relevant patients, plan their workload and log their actions electronically, enabling them to spend more time on clinical duties. May 2011 Norovirus outbreaks reduced to almost zeroVitalPAC IPC Manager (Infection Prevention & Control) has now been in use at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust for over a year. Results from this large acute hospital show that outbreaks of norovirus have been almost eradicated (just one outbreak affecting only one bay in 2010/11). The numer of staff affected by norovirus has consequently fallen dramatically as well. Over this period, the productivity of the IPC team has increased by over 50%, mainly due to improved efficiencies brought about by VitalPAC IPC Manager. Whilst most hospitals in Hampshire have been severely disrupted with norovirus outbreaks in the past 12 months, Portsmouth has all but eradicated outbreaks of any infections from their Queen Alexandra Hospital. IPC Manager utilises observation data captured routinely on VitalPAC by front-line staff, and scans this data for patterns consistent with diarrheal illness – when a pattern emerges, a message about the patient and their accurate location is instantly sent to the personal device of the IPC nurse so that they can review the patient and instigate appropriate containment measures if infection is discovered. The savings to the Trust are huge. April 2011 VitalPAC hospitals dramatically improve VTE assessment ratesA growing number of hospitals are using VitalPAC’s VTE Assessment module to ensure that all patients are risk assessed for their bleeding and thrombosis risk and that appropriate treatment is not just prescribed but also delivered. The VTE Assessment module is fully integrated into VitalPAC so that all staff can easily see each patient’s current VTE status, and staff are alerted if any assessments or confirmations are due or have not been completed, ensuring that any gaps in care are plugged. VitalPAC VTE Assessment generates regular electronic reports for any time period so that hospital clinicians and managers can review performance across all specialities and wards at the click of a button. It also provides quick and accurate compliance reports to commissioners and others, so that Trusts can easily demonstrate that they are meeting their CQUIN targets and recoup any related payments. February 2011 VitalPAC at Healthcare Innovation ExpoThe Learning Clinic has been selected to exhibit at the prestigious Healthcare Innovation EXPO. Find us on Stand 63 where will be launching our exciting new VitalPAC Doctor application for the iPhone. We will also be launching IPC Manager, our real-time Infection Prevention and Control application. This takes live feeds from both microbiology reporting systems and routine nursing observations to identify possible and emerging outbreaks, enabling rapid and effective intervention. The EXPO is taking place at London’s ExCeL Centre on 9 and 10 March and we are offering an exclusive discount on tickets. Enter the following codes when registering for the event and claim a significant discount on the cost: NHS and charities: EMHIE13 (cost £112.50 rather than the regular rate of £299.00) Non-NHS rate: EMHIE14 (cost £224.25) Click here to view the Healthcare Innovation EXPO website. January 2011 VitalPAC at Future Health MissionRoger Killen, managing director of The Learning Clinic, has travelled to San Francisco to take part in the Future Health Mission 2011. The Mission is a competition to identify and support the best fast-growing health technology companies in the UK. The Learning Clinic was selected as one of the best twenty companies and so travelled to the US to explore opportunities for growth with investors, potential partners and customers, and other key stakeholders in Silicon Valley. VitalPAC has received coverage in Modern Healthcare and Wired as a result of the Mission. Click here to view the Wired article. December 2010 VitalPAC developer recognisedProfessor Gary Smith, the leader of the NHS team which helped developed VitalPAC, has been named NHS Innovator of the Year. Professor Smith received the honour at the NHS Leadership Awards, held at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He was recognised for playing "leading role in the United Kingdom and worldwide in improving the detection and management of patient deterioration".. Professor Smith, who is consultant in critical care at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, has been central to the development of VitalPAC. With his team, he has also developed ViEWS (VitalPAC Early Warning Score). Research has shown the score is better than any other at predicting outcomes. Click here to view an article about the award Click here to view a video about the award November 2010 Further awards successVitalPAC has been recognised with two prizes at the Nursing Times Product Awards, continuing a run of significant awards success. The software system took home the silver prize for infection prevention and control, and the gold award for patient observation. The Nursing Times Product Awards, which are in their inaugural year, are designed to recognise and reward products which are transforming patient care and helping healthcare professionals to work efficiently. Click here to view the Nursing Times Product Awards website. October 2010 VitalPAC rollout underway at WolvesRollout of VitalPAC has begun at The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In mid-October, the first ward went "paperfree", using only VitalPAC to record and view patient observations. Royal Wolverhampton is the largest teaching hospital in the Black Country and one of the largest acute providers in the West Midlands. It will ultimately deploy VitalPAC across more than 650 general and acute adult beds. Shrewsbury and Telford completes Cannula Management rolloutThe Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has completed rollout of the VitalPAC Cannula Management module. The process was completed at the end of October and means that staff are regularly prompted to check and manage cannulae. September 2010 Improving care with technologyPortsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has been short-listed in the HSJ Awards 2010 in the Improving Care with Technology category for its use of VitalPAC to improve hospital-wide patient surveillance. The HSJ Awards are widely recognised as highlighting the best examples of innovation and improvements in the delivery of healthcare. Roger Killen, Managing Director of The Learning Clinic, said "I am delighted that Professor Gary Smith and his team's involvement in helping to develop and improve VitalPAC has been recognised in this way." The winners will be announced on 29 November 2010. Click here to view the HSJ Awards website. August 2010 VitalPAC shortlisted for more awardsVitalPAC has been shortlisted for three prestigious awards. The software product, which helps recognise deteriorating and high risk patients, has been shortlisted in the 'Patient observation', 'Infection Prevention and Control' and 'Intravenous therapy' categories of the inaugural Nursing Times Product Awards 2010. Judging for the awards – which aim to recognise products transforming patient care and helping healthcare professionals work efficiently – takes place next month. Winners will be announced in November. Click here to view the Nursing Times Product Awards website. July 2010 ViEWS: the most accurate scoring systemResearchers in Portsmouth have published details of the new VitalPAC Early Warning Score. Using almost 200,000 sets of observation data captured by VitalPAC, David Prytherch, Professor Gary Smith and colleagues have developed and validated the most accurate scoring system for identifying deteriorating patients based on their vital signs. ViEWS generates fewer false alerts than other scoring algorithms. It reduces workload for doctors and other clinical staff and enables them to spend more time with patients with the greatest needs. The authors suggest that ViEWS could form the basis for the development of a National Early Warning Score as proposed by the Royal College of Physicians. Click here to view the abstract. Click here to view the Resuscitation journal editorial and paper (external site). VitalPAC makes VTE risk assessment easyVenous thromboembolism (VTE - blood clots) causes thousands of preventable deaths every year. NHS trusts are required to assess all admissions to hospital for their risk of developing VTE. However existing paper-based systems are unwieldy and ineffective. Based on work at Portsmouth Hospitals, VitalPAC has developed a quick and easy way of assessing all patients on admission. The system provides real-time information about each patient's risk status and whether they are receiving appropriate treatment and automatically generates compliance reports for commissioners and the Department of Health. The latest version of VitalPAC VTE Risk Assessment is fully compliant with NICE Quality Standards and is due to be deployed at Mayday, Wolverhampton, Portsmouth and Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trusts over the coming weeks. Click here to view the NICE Quality Standards on VTE Mayday adopts Chip and PIN for VitalPACAfter evaluating the system on two pilot wards, Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust has decided to deploy VitalPAC across the whole hospital to ensure it manages critical patient safety issues effectively, including MRSA screening and VTE risk assessment. As one of the most innovative deployments so far, Mayday is using RFID scanners fitted to VitalPAC devices to positively identify patients and staff every time a set of observations is taken. Every patient has an RFID wrist band fitted on admission to hospital and each clinician will have an RFID chip fitted to their identity badge. This makes it almost impossible to confuse one patient for another and provides an accurate audit trail of the care provided. June 2010 Visit VitalPAC at the NHS ExpoVitalPAC will be on display at Healthcare Innovation Expo 2011. This major event attracts world leading speakers and is targeted at anyone working in healthcare with an interest in how innovation and technology can improve quality and safety. Over 10,000 delegates are expected to attend the event, held at the ExCeL centre in London on 9th and 10th March 2011. VitalPAC will be demonstrating its exciting new iPhone and iPad applications at the Expo as well as showing how it can drive very high levels of compliance with hospital protocol to improve the management of blood clots, infection control and care of the deteriorating patient. Click here to view the Expo website Better ways to manage hospital acquired infectionsVitalPAC's new infection prevention and control management system, IPC Manager, has gone live at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. Unlike all other infection control systems, IPC Manager uses real time data on patient condition and location and combines this with continuous feeds from the hospital's labs. This enables infection control teams to quickly identify, track and manage possible and confirmed outbreaks more effectively. Outbreaks have historically been reported up to 48 hours post onset. They have a significant impact on organisations including increased patient morbidity, higher levels of staff sickness, the need to close beds or even wards reducing hospital capacity and negative publicity for the Trust. IPC Manager provides Trusts with faster outbreak detection and therefore timelier management. Staff training is easy and compliance is excellent when established. May 2010 Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals signs up for VitalPACThe Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest teaching hospital in the Black Country and one of the largest acute providers in the West Midlands. It has decided to deploy VitalPAC across more than 650 general and acute adult beds. As part of the rollout, the Trust will be using VitalPAC's unique ability to actively encourage and accurately track compliance with screening for MRSA and C. diff infections and to check that everyone admitted to hospital is properly screened for their risk of developing a blood clot, in accordance with national requirements. VitalPAC sponsors the Sussex Critical Care Network ConferenceThe Learning Clinic is delighted to be supporting this year's Sussex Critical Care Network Conference "Challenges, Innovations and Improvements...". During the event, Dr Richard Venn, consultant intensivist at Worthing Hospital will be presenting the findings from the first six month's use of VitalPAC in the hospital. We look forward to meeting delegates at our stand. Click here for the Sussex Critical Care Network Conference website. April 2010 VitalPAC 2010 takes place at BMA HouseThe annual VitalPAC User Group Meeting was held at BMA House on 27th April. The event was attended by clinicians and managers from NHS trusts that have already deployed or are considering installing the system. Speakers at the event presented data which showed the impressive benefits that VitalPAC delivers. This includes reductions in mortality, length of stay, compliance with protocols for MRSA screening and VTE risk assessment and the system's ability to automatically identify and manage outbreaks. For more information about the event or if you wish to contact any of the speakers, please contact our Medical Director, Dr Peter Greengross. March 2010 Scarborough decides to deploy VitalPACThe Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust has contracted for VitalPAC to be deployed across about 450 beds on its two main acute hospital sites. The Trust provides a range of acute hospital services for around 240,000 people living in and around Scarborough, Bridlington, Whitby and Ryedale. It is one of the best performing in the region and continues to make great progress in driving down Healthcare Associated Infections. SaTH trials VitalPAC DoctorShrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust has started using VitalPAC's innovative doctor application which gives medical staff access to real-time patient clinical data on personal pocket sized devices. Using the system, doctors get alerts about deteriorating and high risk patients and can set personalised triggers for individual patients so that they are immediately informed when a patient's condition changes. Royal Devon and Exeter goes paperlessThe Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust completed a successful deployment of the VitalPAC system and went paperless on the initial wards on 1st March. The Trust will be evaluating the system's impact on the delivery and outcomes of care prior to deciding on wider roll-out. RD&E was one of the country's first foundation trusts. It provides acute hospital services to around 350,000 people in Exeter, East Devon and Mid Devon, and offers a wide variety of specialist services to people living in the south-west. February 2010 VitalPAC wins Patient Safety AwardPortsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has won the "Technology and IT to Improve Patient Safety" award at this year's Patient Safety Awards in recognition of their use of VitalPAC. Professor Gary Smith, Clinical Lead for VitalPAC at the Trust said: "We are delighted that the hard work of the team has been recognised. The system allows us to observe patients better, detect deterioration earlier and ensure early intervention in the sick patient's care by nurses and doctors." The hotly contested awards are jointly sponsored by HSJ and Nursing Times. Nursing Times editor-in-chief Alistair McLellan said the judges deemed VitalPAC “very innovative and well thought [out], which had contributed significantly to patient safety.” He continued: “It demonstrated an excellent development process utilising existing evidence, while the ongoing use of data is further developing clinical practice in this area.” The Trust also received another nomination in the Technology and IT to Improve Patient Safety category and one nomination in the Infection Control and Hygiene category, all for VitalPAC. Click here to view more details on the award. Click here for the Patient Safety Awards website. The Mayday signs up for VitalPACThe Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust has signed a contract to deploy VitalPAC on its Medical Admissions Unit and General Medical Wards. The trust will be the first organisation to use RFID technology within VitalPAC to identify staff and patients. Roy Margolis, Technical Director of The Learning Clinic, commented: "The Mayday is entering an exciting phase of its development as an integrated acute and community care provider. The trust has a leading role in the use of healthcare technology and VitalPAC will help maintain and develop this further." January 2010 VitalPAC highly commended in e-Government awardsAt a gala dinner held at the London Guildhall, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire was highly commended in the "Leadership and Professionalism" category for the way it introduced VitalPAC at the Trust. The Trust rolled out VitalPAC to over 900 beds in the space of 6 months, one of the most rapid deployments of the system to date. Since then it has continued to extend its use of VitalPAC to include real-time bed management and the use of personal mobile devices by doctors. Click here for the e-Government National Awards website. VitalPAC at the Patient Safety CongressThe Patient Safety Congress is the UK's leading patient safety event. This year it runs from 25-26 May at Birmingham's ICC, with NHS chief executive David Nicholson among the influential speakers already confirmed. The focus of this year's event is embedding change. Staff from The Learning Clinic will be on Stand B26 to demonstrate how VitalPAC can permanently improve observations practice and the detection of deteriorating patients. The Learning Clinic is offering an exclusive 25% discount to anyone interested in attending the event. To obtain this discount, call 0845 056 8299 or email psc@emap.com, quoting priority code "The Learning Clinic". Click here to view the Patient Safety Congress website where you can view a full list of speakers. December 2009 VitalPAC goes live at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS TrustTwo wards at Worthing Hospital have started using VitalPAC. Erringham Ward and the Acute Medical Unit are testing the system for the next six months to assess its clinical and technical efficacy. Dr Peter Greengross, TLC Medical Director, said "We are delighted that the trust will be using VitalPAC on two busy wards handling patients with high risk conditions. The trust has worked very closely with TLC to install the system with impressive results as soon as it was switched on." Luton and Dunstable goes paperlessFollowing the completion of ward staff training, two wards at Luton and Dunstable Hospital have removed paper observation charts and switched entirely to electronic capture and analysis of vital signs data. Julia Sharman, TLC Sales Director, has been overseeing the successful deployment at the trust. She commented "It is fantastic to be able to operate VitalPAC in an organisation with a leading role in patient safety. We are confident that VitalPAC will reinforce the excellent work that staff already do." November 2009 University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire win prize for use of VitalPACUniversity Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust has won an ICT Excellence Award for its use of VitalPAC. Trust representatives were presented with the prize for best value added project at an awards dinner in November. The trust's entry detailed the many and varied benefits VitalPAC has brought to staff and patients at the Trust since its introduction in early 2008. Among the impressive achievements reported was that 10 patients a week are avoiding admission to ITU thanks to the improved monitoring and intervention brought about by VitalPAC. Those patients who do have to be admitted to the unit now have a significantly reduced length of stay. Click here to view more details on the award. VitalPAC nominated for national awardsTwo trusts that have installed VitalPAC across their sites have been nominated for high profile national awards for their use of the system. University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire have been announced as a finalist in the e-Government National Awards 2009. The trust has been nominated in the "Leadership & Professionalism" category for the rollout of VitalPAC across the organisation. UK Government CIO John Suffolk will reveal the winners on 20th January at a Ministerial dinner at the City of London's Guildhall. Meanwhile, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has been nominated in three categories of the Patient Safety Awards 2010. The trust's use of VitalPAC to help reduce MRSA and its more generic role in identifying and escalating care for deteriorating patients have both been recognised as outstanding achievements. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel on 5th February. Click here to view the e-Government National Awards website. Click here to view the Patient Safety Awards website. Walsall Hospitals signs contract for CRMSWalsall Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a three year contract for TLC's Consultant Resource Management System. CRMS is a web-based application which helps consultants manage their job plans and diaries, making it easier to keep accurate records of their work, book annual leave and compile reports for revalidation. The system is being used initially by 100 consultants with a view to extending to other grades over the next twelve months. October 2009 VitalPAC version 1.2 releasedThe Learning Clinic has released the latest version of its ground-breaking VitalPAC system to NHS hospitals in England. The new version features improved user interfaces and touch screen capabilities, faster performance, more robust connectivity and additional functionality such as the ability to strike-through observations, record cardiac rhythms and manage intravenous cannulae. TLC Technical Director Roy Margolis said "This new release provides our clients with enhanced features that build on VitalPAC's user-friendly design, intelligent decision support and technical superiority. Clinicians will particularly welcome the faster speed and new applications that will help them provide higher quality and safer care for their patients." VitalPAC goes live at Luton and Dunstable NHS Foundation TrustLuton and Dunstable NHS Foundation Trust has started using VitalPAC on its Acute Medical Admissions Unit and Respiratory Ward. Staff will be dual recording on paper charts whilst they learn how to use the new electronic, wireless system. News archive Click here to view our News archive. |
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