GP News
EMIS web upgrade
On 1July staff from AIMTC and EMIS practices went to the EMIS Web launch
roadshow and were enthused by the numerous benefits that EMIS Web will
bring. Many practices are already keen to upgrade to EMIS web and the PCTs
are broadly very supportive of this change, given the obvious potential of
the new system. There are some issues about the upgrade process that are
still being considered. The message to practices from the last GP IM&T
Strategy Group, which discussed this at length, was as follows
- The move to EMIS Web is not cost neutral. The costs and resources
needed locally are being scoped, but the total additional funding required
will not be available within the existing GP IM&T budget this year. PCTs
are exploring with AIMTC how the cost may be covered or offset, including
spreading the implementation over time.
- Signing up to the familiarisation service not just about streaming
data, it is a commitment to evaluate the system, decide whether to
transfer, and manage the data migration within six months. If funds are
identified for the upgrade at your practice, the move to EMIS web is still
a significant system change; it is not a new front end to your existing
system. Practices will need to commit to undergo training, data checking,
and recreation of searches, merges and protocols. A senior EMIS manager
said of the change “it’s not stress free”.
- EMIS web is not formally released until it has passed ‘First of Type’
testing by Connecting for Health. We need to be able to look at the case
studies for the first of type practices once they are released. We will
also run a pilot study to evaluate the actual costs, effort required and
to ensure that all third party software operates properly with EMIS web.
AIMTC is working with PCTs to plan for EMIS web, and will keep practices
informed of all progress or plans. For further details please contact Jane
Schofield, project manager on 0117 900 2441, email:
jane.schofield@aimtc.nhs.uk |
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