NZ's Simpl wins major UK health deal

Leading New Zealand-owned IT Systems Integrator, Simpl has notched up another major win in the global health market, securing a multi-million dollar contract to deliver and support a Single Community Care Record (SCCR) solution for UK National Health Service’s Torbay Care Trust.

Torbay Care Trust has over 1300 staff and is responsible for providing a full range of health and adult social care services in the southwest. The SCCR solution will provide staff with office and remote offline access to comprehensive and secure records of patient and client care details. It supports the further development of Torbay Care Trust’s integrated approach to care by improving information sharing and management across professional disciplines and between community service providers.

The SCCR system will deliver efficiency and productivity benefits for all providers involved in the delivery and administration of community-based health and social care services, and for the people who receive those services. Staff working in the community, such as district nurses and therapists, will derive particular benefit as they will be able to access the SCCR remotely via tablet PC or smartphone, meaning they do not need to return to an office to complete tasks such as booking follow up care or transcribing patient notes.

“It has been clear to us for some time that we needed to employ more innovative and more integrated technology to support our frontline staff, and enable them to deliver the safest and most effective care to their clients and patients,” said Mandy Seymour, Chief Operating Officer for Torbay Care Trust.

“The new Single Community Care Record will make it possible for these staff to view, update, and monitor records whilst they are out in the community, something which can currently only be done from an office environment. This has enormous benefits in terms of maximising staff time with patients and clients, providing them access to the most up-to-date information about a person’s care and needs, and removing unnecessary travelling.”

Torbay’s collaborative, shared care solution is a first for the UK and builds on several years of healthcare-related research and development by Simpl.

“The SCCR addresses a problem government agencies around the world are trying to solve, with the drive to enable healthcare and related services to be effectively and efficiently coordinated across multiple providers and to foster collaboration in ways that improve health outcomes,” says Verdon Kelliher, Simpl CEO.

“Simpl has been seeding Kiwi innovation into the global health market for several years now. We are proud to be working with Torbay Care Trust on this initiative, which promises to deliver significant benefits for the Trust’s healthcare staff and for the communities they serve. We also hope that this will bring us further opportunities to share valuable experience from the UK and elsewhere within the New Zealand environment.”

The SCCR is built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 platform and the project marks another successful collaboration between Simpl and Microsoft in the health space.

“Microsoft and Simpl started working together on connected health solutions here in New Zealand some years ago now. That relationship has grown into a strong global partnership that is focused on leveraging the Microsoft product set to create innovative and cost-effective solutions that transform the delivery of healthcare and related services,” says Paul Muckleston, Managing Director of Microsoft New Zealand.

After the deployment of the SCCR solution, Simpl will continue to work with the Torbay Care Trust under an initial 5 year contract.