Docman has had another excellent year seeing more secondary care organisations utilise our software to manage and workflow documentation and more GP practices becoming centrally funded through GPSoC with Docman GP in the primary care sector.
Highlights of 2014 also included a number of Trusts reaching a milestone of having sent one million electronic letters through Docman Hub, with millions of letters now being sent through the solution every month.
King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust were ranked number one for their use of clinical IT systems using Docman RMS to manage referrals and in the year further secondary care organisations went live with Docman to manage their documentation. Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust signed up to utilise Docman as an end-to-end system for all their clinical and non-clinical documentation.
We launched www.docmanhelp.com containing a library of training guides and videos to support our customers and held our National Docman Conference 2014 that was free for customers to attend. We also launched our Docman Advisory Group and welcomed INPS practices to have their support directly from Docman.
We also launched our 2020 strategy providing a comprehensive road-map aimed at delivering greater value to our customer base.
Ric Thompson, Managing Director, Docman “2014 has been a transformational year for Docman and our customers and we are raring to go in 2015 with some significant product plans to share. We have some important announcements to make in primary care to our 6,000 practices and there are some exciting developments to share early 2015 with our 108 NHS Trusts.”
“We are delighted to be supporting our Docman Hub customers in the new year with a new release and support the ever increasing volumes of documents that are being sent through the Hub. We are also looking forward to be working with organisations utilising Docman in a secondary care environment to workflow referrals and all their documentation.”
“2015 will see Docman continue to strive to provide the NHS with cost effective and innovative solutions that really make a difference in saving time for professionals and costs for organisations.”
Some of our highlights of 2014:
January
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust celebrated sending 1 million letters through their Docman Hub to GP practices in February. Through 16 document sources connected to the Hub, the neighbouring 155 practices received their letters electronically and in real time, saving the Trust thousands of pounds as each letter was estimated to have previously cost around 50 pence.
February
King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust were ranked number one for their use of clinical IT systems, using Docman RMS. This allows King’s to capture, file, workflow and electronically track every incoming referral. This project was also recognised for excellence in the HSJ Efficiency Awards.
March
Heatherwood & Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust worked together to join their Hubs, reaching over 200 GP practices with electronic clinical correspondence. Through sharing agreements, the Trusts will be able to deliver letters electronically to practices connected to each other’s Hubs. The need for this became especially apparent for the A&E departments.
A large practice of 32,500 patients in Morecambe reported the benefits they receive through using Docman. The Coastal Medical Group receives around 430 patient letters each day from Secondary Care providers. Through using iWorkflow and Intellisense, the practice benefited from audit trails, electronic in-trays and faster filing, all especially important when based over 3 sites.
April
In April, a contract was signed for the provision of Docman as a Lot 1 solution on the GPSoC Framework. This allows the software to be centrally funded by the Framework for new and existing customers. The signing of the contract was the first step to achieving Full Roll out Approval which we attained later in the year.
May
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust utilised Docman Hub to send letters electronically from 189 community teams to GP practices across Birmingham and Solihull.
Gary Turnbull, Programme Manager at the Trust, explains: “Our analysis shows us that letters sent electronically though the Hub are typically received by a practice 18 hours before the paper process. This means we can deliver information to GPs quicker, which is a real positive. As well as this we estimate that a practice receiving a letter electronically with the attached meta-data can save up to two minutes per letter when using Docman. Simply by removing the need to open post, scan and date stamp a letter the time savings can really add up.”
“Previously letters were moved to a central point before they were then sent out to practices through the post, which cost around 45p per letter. With the paper process it could be half a day or so before letters were posted, effectively putting patient care on hold.”
June
Our biggest announcement for June was the release of Docman version 75000. This was an important update, including new features such as single sign-on for EMIS Web and INPS.
July
The National Docman Conference at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, was held in July with delegates from across Primary, Secondary and Social Healthcare organisations who attended to learn more about Docman projects and share best practice with others. Presentations by Kemi Adenubi, HSCIC and Dr Masood Nazir, NHS England, talked about the need for paperless working within the NHS.
The Docman Help Centre ([https://www.docmanhelp.com)]www.docmanhelp.com) was launched in July and created to provide increased support and resources for our customers. The Help Centre has a comprehensive library of videos and training guides which cover all elements of using the Docman software to provide an enhanced support experience.
August
In August, the Docman Advisory Group was launched. This was established for Docman users to be able to get involved with and have an influence upon product design, as well as to discuss new ideas and innovations. The Advisory Group will be working with the Product Team to discuss projects and allow for Docman users to help shape the software to their feedback.
September
The Greater Manchester Electronic Clinical Correspondence project sent its one millionth letter. This project covers 14 NHS Trusts and 503 GP practices and uses Docman to support and improve the process of sending clinical correspondence from Hospitals to GP practices across Greater Manchester. The Project Manager, Daniel Alexander states the project has been ‘a real driver in strengthening the relationship between CCGs and Trusts’, and that ‘reaching one million electronic letters is a fantastic milestone for supporting our health economy in being efficient in what it does and removing the unnecessary costs that arise with handling and moving paper around’.
October
We received Full Roll out Approval from the HSCIC for all Docman to be centrally funded.
Practices that use INPS Vision are also able to order Docman GP through the GPSoC contract, which would not only provide them with funding, but also a dedicated Docman support service too.
November
From November, a Winter Webinar campaign was launched. This was to raise awareness to customers of the extremely helpful Webinar sessions available through November and December. The topics covered vary from using Intellisense, to Back Office, to EDT Scheduler and Filing, with a Q&A session at the end.
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust became the first organisation to choose Docman as a Trust-wide electronic workflow system for clinical and non-clinical documentation. The Trust will utilise Docman EDM to process and track documentation to standardise the communication process for its 3,500 employees across 71 sites. The project covers Oxleas’ five directorates and is working with 3 CCGs that include over 150 GP practices.
December
The Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Trust went live with Docman RMS to receive and manage referrals electronically.
Docman RMS has also been implemented in The Royal Wolverhampton Trust after piloting the software in Ophthalmology, ENT, Respiratory and a small number of GP surgeries. By eliminating unnecessary administrative resources, reducing the number of ‘missing’ referrals and requests for ‘resends’, the organisation becomes highly efficient leading to enhanced patient care.