This week, TPP is celebrating its ninth birthday, and what a year it's been
since the last time the candles were blown out!
The last 12 months have seen great change all round - politically, with a
change of Prime Minister at number 10 and a public smoking ban; in the NHS
generally, with the restructuring of Strategic Health Authorities and Primary
Care Trusts; and in NHS IT specifically, with Richard Granger stepping down
as Director General of IT for the Department of Health, the accountability
for delivery of NPfIT being transferred to SHAs as part of the NPfIT Local
Ownership Programme (NLOP), and the introduction of the GP Systems of Choice
scheme.
For TPP, the changes have been no less significant. At the start of 2007,
Accenture's LSP contract novated over to the CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation)
Alliance, bringing opportunities to introduce SystmOne to a third region
- the North West and West Midlands. SystmOne is now the LSP integrated primary
care solution for the whole of the North, Midlands and East Programme for
IT.
Deployments of SystmOne have continued apace this year, capitalising on the
momentum built by Accenture, and pushed forward by CSC. The last 12 months
have seen a further 16 prisons and five Child Health units going live on
SystmOne. The number of GP practices using SystmOne is now nearing the 700
mark, 726 Community units are using SystmOne Community and over 7.6 million
patients are now registered on the system.
In March this year, we held our biggest user group yet - 300 users came to
the SystmOne National User Meeting 2007 at the Royal Armouries in Leeds to
meet their colleagues from across the UK, get to know the TPP team, attend
talks and break-out sessions and talk to our partners in the exhibition area.
The event also saw the launch of the SystmOne National User Group (SNUG),
which will see SystmOne's users taking on the responsibility of running an
independent user group from now on.
In July, torrential rain pounded much of the country, but SystmOne GP practices
affected by the rain were able to re-locate to a drier building and carry
on working, due to SystmOne's central hosting. So, while many had their spirits
(and carpets) dampened, SystmOne GP users remained above water.
SystmOne has continued to develop over the last year so that it now offers
users more benefits than ever. This year's enhancements, which all enable
organisations to save time, money and paper, include SMS text messaging,
Adastra out-of-hours messaging, and ScriptSwitch integration. There have
also been major developments to the dispensing facility in SystmOne with
LabelTrace label printing, pathology test requesting with Anglia ICE, and
barcode scanning now all fully supported.
Throughout the year, we've been involving users as much as we can in the
SystmOne development process. We've held workshops focussing on dispensing,
consultations, scanning, drug dependency, and SystmOne Prison. Some of the
ideas provided by users at these workshops are already visible in SystmOne,
and others are on their way.
So, it's been a busy year but one which has seen the company continue to
develop and grow. Staff numbers have increased to over 70, and we're still
on the look-out for more impressive CVs. Staff have turned out their pockets
for a record number of wedding collections, and even a couple of new baby
collections - so it's not all work and no play!
TPP Director and co-founder, Sat Virk, says, "Of everything we've achieved
with TPP and SystmOne, the thing I'm most proud of is the people. To know
that each and every one of them is totally committed to what we are trying
to achieve, to developing the best product and delivering the best possible
customer service to our users is fantastic. Some of the staff have been with
us for a good proportion of our nine years now, and I've watched them grow
up. To know that they are settled enough in their lives here to do things
like get married and have children is great and very satisfying to see."
What will the next 12 months hold for SystmOne and TPP? Looking at the development
plan, there's already a lot on the cards for SystmOne including hand-held,
remote and 'briefcase' solutions, protocols for the Single Assessment Process,
integration with secondary care systems, and appointment booking through
the internet, automated phone systems and digital television.
"Over the next year, we will continue to work on joining up primary care
with the suite of SystmOne products," says TPP Project Manager, Jo Leslie. "We
are hoping to be able to offer SystmOne Rehab, Out of Hours and Diabetes
as part of the core offering with CSC shortly, to complement the addition
this year of SystmOne Palliative."
Jo continues, "GP Systems of Choice will give practices in the South and
London regions of the National Programme the opportunity to benefit from
SystmOne. And we're looking forward to getting more practices on board throughout
all five regions."
Working with CSC and CFH, TPP will continue to provide an integrated primary
care system to England and Wales, ensuring that patient records are available
at the point of care, wherever that may be. We're confident that there'll
be much to celebrate in another year's time, when we'll be celebrating our
first decade.
