The benefits of Paris - a single system solution
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John Hopkins |
Paris offers a single system solution embracing all aspects of care delivered within a community environment for both health and social care. Developed primarily to enable the integration of the two disciplines (although it can be, and is, implemented separately) it offers tremendous benefits to organisations.
The system is based around people; usually the most vulnerable in our society to whom services within the community are directed: the sick and infirm, people with mental health problems, those with learning difficulties, vulnerable children, children from birth to 18 (all services including immunisation and vaccination, fostering and adoption) and adult services, particularly for the elderly.
It is for this section of the community who are being cared for by either health or social services or, in a high percentage of cases, both services, that the Paris system has been developed. The primary objective of the system is to assist in the improvement of the delivery of care.
By facilitating the bringing together of all the various strands of multi-disciplinary patient/client information, the system effectively enables the creation of a single care record that can be accessed and updated by multi-agency practitioners, either within the patient’s/client’s own home or in the community environment.
This information then permits informed observations and decisions to be made about care delivery based on a full, comprehensive picture. For a great many of the debilitated and vulnerable, care that is purely either health or social care based will not be successful on its own without the element of support from the other.
Easily comprehensible information for clinicians
“The Paris function of bringing that record together is critical in moving care in the community forward,” John Hopkins, in4tek’s sales director, said. “It delivers multi-organisational and multi-disciplinary working in a single service. In terms of the way the system presents itself to practitioners in both health and social care, we find that, because the presentation of the information in forms format is easily comprehensible, an ever-increasing number of clinicians want to use the system.
“Crucially, information is clinically-led, as opposed to management information demands dictating clinical practice, with practitioners entering and extracting data when required. Unlike hospitals in the acute sector, where the patient is admitted, treated and discharged, community care, though perhaps less complex, involves more services, more people and is generally spread over a longer period of time.
“It is precisely because of with the way that community environments operate there does not tend to be a single service input. Most care is multiple service care and this multi-service, multi-agency working is most often disjointed and inefficient in its delivery. With Paris, this patient/client information is brought together into a combined care plan making the delivery process effective and efficient.”
The unified Paris care plan promotes increased levels of communications between practitioners of the different disciplines involved in the process, thereby advancing inter-service cooperation and working, enhancing the processes and procedures which, to the benefit of service recipients, streamlines and improves service delivery.
Supports a unified front
The elderly in particular benefit from better-organised care plans, they have one person to control and manage their care and therefore, the likelihood of being descended upon by several practitioners at the same time is greatly diminished. As well as saving resource, a more unified front is presented.
“Paris has risen to the challenge of multi-organisational and multi-disciplinary working,” John stated. “In Canada and throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland organisations are unifying and working together as joint teams with a single system. Ill health community care, mental health, social care and health care all have access to the same information. This is not only a profoundly sensible way to work; it makes life for everyone so much easier, and it makes sound financial sense.
“The flexibility of Paris allows organisations to realise their visions and expectations of what they want to achieve and how they want to work. However, to achieve that does involve much pre-planning, workflow analysis and process mapping prior to the implementation of the system. It is necessary for a detailed examination of the businesses processes, and how these can be improved, and to see if the right circumstances or facilities are presented.
“Organisations have to look at the way in which they work, at their processes and procedures, at the way their systems work and ask the questions - given the correct set of circumstances, if we had the support, if we had that information could we work more effectively and efficiently? - Could we provide a different and better service in a different way that supported the patient/client, or deliver to them a service when and how they wanted it delivered to them?”
Paris supports organisations determined to change
The Paris system and its implementation process, favours those organisations with a determination to change, are willing to grasp the challenge and are prepared to drive forward that change. Predominately Paris supports the very well run organisations that are customer focused and looking to change their delivery processes to serve their communities, their populations better. All implementations to date have demonstrated that flexibility is inherent within the system and the ability to supply screens, data items and forms has allowed different organisations to drive the system in different ways.
“It also picks up on local variations very easily and very quickly,” John explained. “Organisations that are driving it forward and developing the system to meet their own particular requirements are actually not at all dependent upon in4tek or the vendor organisation to constantly and expensively develop new elements, additions or new pieces of information for the system. They have complete flexibility to tailor and to drive the system in their own direction in their own way.”
This flexibility has been instrumental in allowing in4tek to keep Paris as a single solution that delivers throughout England, Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland and Canada. There are differences and variations in every implementation in the regions and areas of each country, each one reflecting the identity and preferences of the individual organisation.
Some of these variances are significant some less so, but they can all be catered for within the one application. John expanded, “The benefit of this is that across the areas of the countries in which we are delivering, organisations are communicating, exchanging experiences and findings, learning from each other, feeding off each other and developing their services with the information and skills from a vast array of people and services on two continents.
Moving into a Web services environment
“Paris is currently written for the Windows environment and is largely for local area and wide area networks, and it fulfils its remit extremely well. As a consequence of on-going additional system development, a move out into a Web services environment later this year will enable users, clients and patients, to have access to elements of their records and to book appointments from their home computer. With the enablement of increasing wireless point of contact with patients/clients, quality practitioner data entry and information presentation become more and more necessary to gain efficiencies in the case system we are striving for.
“Paris will be taking on board Web services and Web deployment, which will continue to roll forward, and the system will continue to be up-dated to meet those challenges. From a very stable base we will constantly improve, develop and up-date Paris into the new technologies that come along. With wireless technology, for instance, we already have a number of live system users and they are able through a web services front end to give access to staff out in the community. This gives practitioners access to full and up to date information while they are with patients/clients, either in their home or in a clinic environment.”
Contact
Tel: 0161 941 5833
Web: www.in4tek.com
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