What do SystmOne users, NHS CFH VIPs, dancing bananas and ghost stories have in common? They were all present at this year's SystmOne National User Meeting.
The event, which was held on May 23rd, at the Royal Armouries Hall in Leeds was attended by 300 SystmOne users, as well as representatives from TPP, CSC and NHS CFH.
Presentations on the day ranged from a global look at the progress of primary care systems and the Connecting for Health Summary Care Record from Professor Mike Pringle (GP Clinical Lead for NHS CFH), and SystmOne's position within the CFH programme, to specific user experiences.
Users shared their experiences through a mixture of presentations and workshops. Topics covered included sharing records between both primary and secondary care, and GP and community environments. The expert users also discussed the sensitive issues surrounding sharing records such as data quality and patient consent, and concluded that sharing is a positive step forward that leads to better information and communication for healthcare organisations, and better patient care. Dr Richard Pope urged other organisations to follow the lead of those already sharing, telling delegates, "Shared records are here - it's up to you to use them as agents for change."
Another focus of the day was the launch of a new user group, independent of TPP, CSC and CFH. Graham Spearing, head of Primary Care Deployment Support for NHS CFH stressed the need for an independent user group that would be representative of all SystmOne users across the different care settings and trusts. The group, he said, would empower users and allow them to provide direct input into the growth of SystmOne and the prioritisation of developments. Interested parties should email Graham at gs@nhs.net.
"We're delighted with how the day went," says Cairen Ball, Customer Relationship Manager. "It gave us at TPP an opportunity to meet a large number of our customers, which is vital in maintaining good relationships. We hope that the day was enjoyed by everyone attending."
Feedback from the delegates has been positive with 35% giving us top marks when rating how useful and enjoyable they found the day.
Jenny Wright, North Tees PCT Speech and Language Therapy, said the day was "useful for giving ideas for future developments in my service."Staff from Sunnybank Medical Centre in Bradford said that it was a "positive event with good discussion around sensitive and topical points. We came away confident that SystmOne will develop to encompass development challenges for the future."
Dr George Ewbank of Huthwaite Health Centre, Sutton-in-Ashfield, says he found "networking with different people and meeting the team" the most valuable parts of the day. He comments that TPP has "a very open team - refreshing compared to previous suppliers."
Footnote: The ghost story came in a light-hearted presentation about a legacy system from the Bridge Medical Centre in Crawley, and the dancing banana was one of the talking points of a presentation by TPP's Neil Toner!
