BMI Healthcare innovates in cancer services technology

Representing excellence and innovation in the field of healthcare, BMI Healthcare has been shortlisted as a finalist in the IT Innovator of the Year category of this year’s HealthInvestor Awards.

The significant achievement comes as a result of BMI Healthcare’s project to become the first private hospital group to offer e-prescribing for systemic anti‑cancer therapies (SACT) across each of its hospitals offering these services.

BMI Healthcare, the UK’s largest private hospital group, has worked alongside Knowledge Medical Systems (KMS) on the project. The KMS “iQemo” e-prescribing system was launched in September 2015 and is already live in many of BMI’s hospitals. By September 2016 over 150 consultants at 30 BMI hospitals will use e-prescribing for their oncology patients, paving the way for it to be rolled across other specialities in the BMI Healthcare group.  The project offers significant benefits to BMI Healthcare patients, as well as to consultants, pharmacists and nurses. Maximising patient safety across its hospitals was an aim at the forefront of the approach, and implementation of the project allows for a greater compliance with prescribing protocols.

The e-prescribing project is led by Nikki Evans, Group Director of Oncology, and Group Chief Pharmacist, Anne Iveson. Anne Iveson said: “E-prescribing for both consultants and the pharmacy team will provide a 21st century approach to prescribing and electronic access to pathology results.”

Nikki Evans, Group Director of Oncology for BMI Healthcare, continues: “From our point of view working across pharmacy and IT, e-prescribing is the way forward in order to ensure reduction of risk and an improvement in quality.”

Nikki  added that the decision for BMI Healthcare to move from a paper-based system of chemotherapy prescribing in oncology was influenced by researching the opinions of BMI Healthcare consultants and discovering that e-prescribing was one of the most requested developments.

“It is very easy to access, it is intuitive and straightforward.   That usability is very important when introducing it into 30 sites,” she explained. “The feedback has been excellent. As well as e-prescribing, it includes the pharmacy component and administration element.  It is a complete system not just e-prescribing,” Nikki said.

Dr Andreas Makris, Consultant Clinical Oncologist working with BMI Healthcare said: “I am just amazed how easy this system is to use as compared to other e prescribing systems I use.”  And Dr Nicola Anyamene, Consultant Clinical Oncologist working at BMI’s Bishops Wood Hospital commented: “I find iQemo the best out of the 4 e-prescribing systems I use.”

The browser-based iQemo system is integrated with BMI Healthcare’s patient administration system, Oracle's PeopleSoft, and to the pharmacy and pathology systems.

Paul Cowley, Acting CIO for BMI Healthcare commented: “Information is vital to providing a responsive high quality and efficient service to our patients and consultants. Relevant, timely and accessible data lowers clinical risk, provides greater efficiency and allows for a more seamless service for our patients.  The solution, which uses tablet computers at the patient bedside, builds on BMI Healthcare’s existing approach to electronic patient record and its highly successful patient administration system (PAS), enabling the organisation to achieve its vision of delivering the best possible patient outcomes and experiences.”

Jill Watts, Group Chief Executive of BMI Healthcare, said: "Consultants, insurers and commissioners recognise the advantages of e-prescribing, particularly around patient safety.  The paperless, browser based solution offered by iQemo is an important development for BMI Healthcare which underlines our continued investment in the business for the benefit of our patients and partners, and underpins the continued growth of our oncology services."