The Christie NHS Foundation Trust has signed a two-year contract with Avenue3 to build and deploy a patient engagement platform and e-referral solution.
The company said these will be underpinned by openEHR technology, making the Christie the first trust in England to do so, and that it will support more digital functions for clinicians providing care for cancer patients.
The first stage of the project is the e-referral portal, which will go live in February 2024. It will replace paper processes for external referrals and enable patients to keep track of where they are in their treatment.
Simultaneously, the trust and Avenue3 are developing and implementing the patient engagement portal, built on openEHR standards, to feed into the existing patient administration system (PAS) and link with the e-referral system.
In the portal, patients will have access to a single landing page with information on their diagnosis, upcoming appointments, treatment plans, and cancer journey, further improving patient experience. It will also have the option to send appointments invitations via SMS or email, depending on patient preference.
Improve care
Patricial Reilly, head of digital programmes at The Christie, said: “As the largest single-site cancer centre in Europe, serving a population of more than 60,000 patients a year, we’re always looking for ways to improve care for patients.”
“It can often be a difficult time for patients undergoing cancer treatment, it’s important that we can make every interaction with the trust as seamless as possible, notifying patients about appointments in a timely manner and communicating important information to their digital or non-digital preferences. Both solutions will not only streamline workflows for clinicians but enhance communication and engagement for patients and ultimately improve referral processes.”
