The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust is rolling out new healthcare data and storage management solutions, developed by Woburn, Mass.-based BridgeHead Software, to improve operational efficiency, cost savings and patient care. NHS officials expect the deployment to help the trust create an environment that optimizes the storage, management and protection of Rotherham’s clinical and administrative data.

“At Rotherham, we have several key IT initiatives in place to drive innovation through technology to create an infrastructure that helps us improve the delivery of patient care," said David Brown, head of ICT at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust. "These initiatives include the incorporation of bes-of breed-technologies that will help create operational efficiencies, save cost, deliver ROI, while providing a robust, future-proof strategy for our organization. To achieve this in the ambitious timescales we have set for ourselves, we have found it necessary to work outside of the national program to find vendors that clearly match our requirements.”

A contract between the trust and BridgeHead Software was established in October 2009 as support for the implementation of the trust’s new electronic patient record system using MEDITECH’s software – the deployment of which was part of Rotherham’s strategic decision to opt for alternative solutions outside the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). NHS officials said looking beyond the national program has enabled the trust to explore other best-of-breed solutions to suit their IT requirements. Rotherham ran with BridgeHead Software for its data and storage management requirements.
 
The initial project with BridgeHead Software was to provide the trust with its HT Backup product, for backup and disaster recovery, supporting the management and storage of increased levels of data generated by the electronic patient record. The decision to implement new technology solutions has been part of a drive by the trust toward consolidating its storage infrastructure and developing new ways of working through the use of innovative technology.

The second phase of the project involved the deployment of FileStore EHR that has enabled the trust to fulfill its data recovery obligations as well as ensure records are indexed, de-duplicated and encrypted so they are in keeping with data protection and privacy regulations. Officials said that a part of Rotherham’s vision was to create a paperless hospital environment. The BridgeHead system helps take away the problem for healthcare professionals of how to efficiently manage and control the proliferation of data that will accompany the switch from paper-based to digitized records. FileStore EHR ensures records are optimized (e.g. through compression, de-duplication etc.), indexed, and made fully searchable before being stored so that data can be accessed by hospital staff efficiently and cost effectively.

Rotherham and BridgeHead are working on the third phase of the project, which includes the deployment of solutions to further support the management and protection of data specifically around clinical services as well as the rollout of MailStore to an additional 2,000 users. MailStore will also help the trust  manage its planned upgrade from Exchange 2003 to 2010.

“At Rotherham, our mission is to act as a spearhead to prove that technology can work and deliver benefits, both for the hospital and more importantly for the improvement in the delivery of patient care," said Brown. "This is why we are committed to developing a consolidated infrastructure with future-proof solutions – strategic partners such as BridgeHead Software have become key to achieving that objective."