Wednesday 7 March
The project has involved close co-operation among three companies – EMIS, Pearl Medical and PAERS – to ensure the seamless delivery of the end product to customers.
And it can be seen in action at HC2007 in the Primary Care Interoperability Village.
Darryl Cox Project Director of EMIS said: “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter to the doctor that there are three companies involved in making this happen. “What matters to them is that they can have access to the medical record of any patient on their list via a mobile BlackBerry device when they are away from the surgery.
“But to reach that point, EMIS, Pearl Medical and PAERS have each had to bring their own unique skills, knowledge and expertise to the project. And that’s why it is such a great example of interoperability.”
Three hands make light work
Pearl Medical supplies the mobile BlackBerry devices to the doctors using GP Access, and takes care of mobile service provision. For a small monthly fee, Pearl Medical members also benefit from unlimited mobile internet and email access via the device.
PAERS’ role has been to process the patient record data from EMIS clinical systems to ensure it is suitable for mobile devices such as the BlackBerry. The system also uses token and password based login, which is more secure than most internet banking websites. The electronic token creates a unique multi-digit number each time the GP logs on.
Cox adds: “Each partner has examined and proposed various methods of maintaining maximum security, enabling us to use their combined knowledge of the technology and the environment. That’s why GP Access is such a safe and secure system.
“It’s all about providing our customers with the best possible IT systems and services to support patient care. We call it the 21st Century electronic practice.
“For this to work, no one company can do it all. So with GP Access, EMIS authenticates and extracts the data from its clinical systems, PAERS processes and presents that data, and Pearl provides the hardware and the service. And the ultimate service is delivered seamlessly to the customer.”
ENDS