Civica, a software provider for public services, has signed a £10 million contract in March 2021 with the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) for upgrading its electronic patient record provision (EPR).

According to the eight-year contract, the NHS trust will deploy Civica’s Health & Care EPR cloud product suite, consisting of Cito, Paris, and Civica Prescribing. The EPR cloud product suite will enable the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to combine all patient data and workflow capabilities for providing quick, effective, and safe care to mental health patients.

The resulting integrated digital platform is expected to address the growing demand for mental health services, overcome pressures related to costs, while supporting the NHS trust’s remote working agenda, said Civica.

The Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust offers inpatient and community-based mental health care to nearly 53,000 service users across Bolton, Manchester, Trafford, and Salford.

Civica said that by implementing the digital healthcare solutions, the NHS trust will get a seamless EPR and case management functionality. This will help the trust in supporting mental health patients, right from the first contact through to assessment care plans, bed management for in-patient wards, and administration of prescriptions.

A new digital portal to be created will give a real-time and complete view of information for healthcare workers while working remotely, which helps deliver a better patient experience, said Civica.

Additionally, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust can transition to being a paper free organization with a digital platform that can safely and securely capture, store, and also share clinical information.

Civica said that the platform has the potential to expand as the demand of the NHS trust’s user base increases. The digital platform will be handled by the UK-based data centers of Civica.

Grace Birch – Associate Director of Information Management and Technology, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust said: “Over the past year, we’ve seen increased demand for our services as the UK’s mental health demands become ever more acute.

“This, combined with the availability of new technologies, saw us review our existing digital capabilities. Continuing our Civica partnership will enable us to improve care pathways and future-proof the Trust.”

With Civica’s support, the NHS trust also intends to set up a patient-facing version.

The Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust will also have access to Civica’s NorthStar Innovation lab where clinicians and employees can work together with academia and technology experts to study and trial new solutions for the provision of mental health services.

Steve Brain – Executive Director, Health & Social Care, Civica said: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with GMMH. Our integrated EPR software platform will support the provision of seamless care pathways, with improved access to information capture and sharing and ultimately assisting with the Trust’s digital transformation and patient care for the future.”

  Civica, Electronic Patient Record Provision, Grace Birch, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, NHS, Steve Brain, United Kingdom