Largest Welsh health board, Betsi partner with Civica
Largest Welsh health board will use Cito software to help transform care delivery and improve patient safety via digital health record
Civica, a global leader in software for public services, has agreed a new five-year contract with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) for its Cito software to support the Board’s Patient Record Transition Programme.
BCUHB is the largest health organisation in Wales with a budget of approx. £1.4bn. The Board employs over 17,000 staff who perform over 1.8 million patient activities per year. Each of these require access to a patient’s record to support clinical decision making and ensure better patient outcomes.
Civica’s Cito software will underpin the Board’s Patient Record Transition Programme. The Digital Health Record (DHR) project aims to deliver a single cohesive view of the acute patient record across all BCUHB’s sites.
The DHR will use electronic forms to gather information directly from clinicians, patients and health care professionals, alongside drawing information from other key local and national systems together with scanned information to significantly reduce the reliance on paper. This ‘born digital’ approach will create a single digital patient case note that can be shared safely and easily with other health care professionals in Wales and beyond. This will help the Health Board to improve patient flow, enhance patient safety and confidentiality, and reduce costs. The DHR also supports BCUHB’s aim to reduce storage costs and become paper-light by 2023.
COVID-19 has seen many outpatient clinics now delivered remotely by phone/video. The DHR will support these virtual clinics, critical to continuing patient care during the pandemic by allowing clinicians to access patient case notes digitally and in confidence.
Jo Whitehead, Chief Executive Officer at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “We’re committed to continued patient-centric care by ensuring the right patient information is available to clinicians at the point of delivery of care. It’s important that patients and their carers can actively participate in their care, with the confidence that their information is safe.
“We selected Civica’s Cito as the best option to provide fast and accurate availability of all patient records. This will support our clinical decision making and ultimately ensure better outcomes for patients.”
Steve Brain, Executive Director, Health and Care at Civica added: “We’re delighted to be working in long-term partnership with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board as it progresses its digital transformation agenda in Wales. Delivering a paperless NHS at the point of care is critical to improve safety and efficiencies, putting the right tools into clinicians’ hands to make their jobs easier and safer. We’re excited to support the Board’s digital innovation journey.”
BCUHB is the second Welsh health board to select Cito, following Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board which contracted Civica to support its Digital Hospital agenda in 2019. Civica now works with three of Wales’ largest health boards by spend, which in turn service over 50% of the population.
With a 30-year track record in the health sector, Civica delivers critical software solutions to over 400 customers across the NHS and private care sector: from electronic prescribing and patient records to enhanced workforce efficiency. The company provides cloud delivery to more than 20,000 clinicians, facilitates the scanning of 150 million documents and images and processes £60bn of NHS funds annually.