Sexual health charity set to transform service delivery with new health information system
Choices, a not for profit charity and the main provider of contraceptive and sexual health services in Guernsey, went live this month with a bespoke health information system from Inform Health. Developed specifically for sexual health services and designed to improve patient experience and support best clinical practice, the Choices’ system has been fully scoped, customised and tested within a record 8 weeks.
Following the termination of its incumbent IT contract in April 2021, the charity took the opportunity to replace its generic primary care system with one built around its unique requirements. Key to this was ensuring staff had fast access to up-to-date patient data to support holistic care, the ability to enhance patient experience from appointment booking through to consultation, and a mechanism to streamline and automate processes including results notification and reporting. Choices also needed the new system to be scalable, with scope to provide enhanced autonomy to patients, while further reducing pressure on services through functionality including online booking, postal STI testing kits and self check-in kiosks at clinics.
Choices estimates use of its new Inform system will allow more efficient use of time with the patient, while reducing opportunity for human error and inefficiency linked to tasks like manually sending text messages to patients to notify them of STI test results. The implementation comes at an opportune time, as the charity prepares for an annual surge in demand from students returning home from university for Christmas.
With primary care services in Guernsey, including contraception, chargeable to patients aged over 21, providing affordable access to high quality sexual healthcare and contraception has been central to the charity’s mission since its inception in the 1970s. Fiona Hardy, Choices’ service manager explains what the new IT system will mean for the service, its staff and, crucially, its patients: “The great thing about our Inform system is the flexibility of configuration. Through working closely with the project team at Inform, albeit entirely remotely due to the pandemic, we’ve created something that not only serves our present needs but, due to the shared Inform framework, enables us to easily extend our offering to patients as and when our service evolves.
“This implementation represents the start of a completely new way of delivering sexual health and contraception services to Guernsey’s population; one where technology, process automation and access to quality data facilitates a more holistic approach to patient care, alleviates administrative burden on staff to enable us to optimise service delivery and provides us with the information we need to assess performance and target provision.
“Working with Inform has been a fantastic experience. We’re aware that they count many large NHS Trusts as customers but we have never once been made to feel like our project is an inferior priority for the Inform team . Instead, they’ve shared our vision for keeping patients at the heart of all decisions and have worked collaboratively and proactively to deliver a bespoke system against an incredibly tight timeline that we’re confident will help transform Choices’ service delivery for the better.”
The implementation marks the first occasion Inform Health has been requested to integrate its health information system with a separate billing platform. According to Inform Health’s commercial director, Sue Bunn, the success of this project is testament to each party’s commitment to doing right by patients. Sue comments: “Building effective health information systems for sexual health means understanding the problems each stakeholder experiences – from patients to clerical staff, nurses, health advisers, doctors, clinical support workers and service managers and working backwards from that point to develop fit for purpose solutions.
“Keeping patients at the heart of this project has been second nature, as all parties share the core value of championing patient safety and experience above all else. With this shared vision and through exceptional partnership working we’ve succeeded in developing, testing and implementing a bespoke system that integrates seamlessly with Total Solutions Group, ‘Medibooks’ billing platform, in record time. I’m very proud of all involved and looking forward to hearing how the Choices’ Inform system benefits patients and staff alike in the coming months and years.”
