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Respect and Responsibility: A Strategy and Action Plan for Improving Sexual Health, launched in January 2005, set out a framework for improving sexual health in Scotland and an action plan. As a result of national discussions it was agreed to undertake a procurement of a National Sexual Health IT System for Scotland to support the strategy.

 

The system procurement in 2006/2007 was led and supported by NHS NSS. It was sponsored and funded by SGHD eHealth which is also funding some initial running costs. The application contract was awarded to AxSys Technology Ltd with a tailored version of their Excelicare product which supports a number of clinical disciplines within Scotland. The system is run as one national database and its operation is supported under the national Managed Technical Service contract provided by ATOS Origin. This contract is also managed by NHS NSS which is the legal owner of the NASH system with the accountable officer being Dr Adam Bryson, OBE, Medical Director, National Services Scotland (NSS), who is the nominated data controller and Caldicott Guardian of the system on behalf of NHSScotland.

 

In March 2007 the NaSH Reference Group started working with AxSys to design and develop the NaSH system. A detailed period of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) was undertaken from December 2007 to February 2008. At the Project Board meeting in February the UAT was signed off and NaSH went live in March in the Lead Site, NHS Lanarkshire and in NHS Ayrshire & Arran. The Project Board has now become the NaSH Programme Board overseeing the rollout throughout Scotland and the Reference Group has evolved into the User Management Group with additional membership from Boards scheduled to go live in 2008/2009.

 

Boards Currently Live: Ayrshire and Arran,Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Lothian & Tayside.

 

Boards Implementing in 2008/09: Grampian (March)

 

Boards due to Implement in 2009/10: Fife, Forth Valley, Highland, Orkney and Shetland & Western Isles

 

NaSH has been designed to be a full electronic patient record which will support the integrated service arising out of the traditional specialities of family planning and genitourinary medicine wherever these are delivered and including other sexual health services such as community gynaecology, counselling, and psychosexual medicine. NaSH is required to service approximately:

 

* 1200-1500 clinical and administrative staff

* 400,000 annual attendances across specialties which may grow 20-30%

* 100-200 geographic sites

* 14 or so major management units (NHS Health Board areas; some of which are involved in or considering wider formal managed clinical networks)

 

NaSH has also been designed to fully comply with NHSScotland eHealth Strategy, eHealth confidentiality and security standards and to utilise, where relevant, the national eCommunication products.

 

Key Features of the system:

 

* It is one national database where access is provided through a role based security environment which was subject to national consultation. Access security and governance arrangements are considered vital to provide confidence in the confidentiality and security environment protecting the system.

* It uses the NCDDP national data definitions where possible. Information on these definitions can be found in www.datadictionary.scot.nhs.uk

* It supports full clinical information recording designed round the service clinical processes. This includes sexual health prescribing, laboratory test requesting and results reporting, examination and procedure documentation and partner notification.

* It has an interface to the national CHI (Community Health Index) for the downloading of national patient identification, where the patient consents. Patients are offered anonymity options for all services and these options have been built into all the eCommunication processes.

* It supports automation of results reporting from the laboratories via SCI Store.

* It provides an extract to a telephonetic systems for phone results reporting to patients.

* In due course it will provide an interface to the STISS and Colposcopy Audit systems to avoid duplicate data entry.

* It is planned, at a later stage, to provide electronic communication of referrals and discharges via SCI Gateway.

* In the future it is hoped to provide an interface to the national cervical cancer screening system SCCRS.

 

Project Board membership changes: Please note this is now called Programme Board

 

We say farewell to: Andrew Corkhill, Atos Origin. Lynda Lawson, NSS, Kinley MacDonald, David Pattison and Cliff Baister

 

We Welcome: Dr Adam Bryson OBE, Medical Director, NSS. Hugo Bell, Service Manager, Atos Origin. Dona Milne,Sexual Health Advisor, Medical Directorate. Mark Darroch, IT Manager, Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

 

The Reference Group has changed to the User Management Group which has the same membership as old group but with the following changes

 

The following people have moved to the Programme Board: Cathy Courtney, Robert Orr and Mark Darroch.

 

New members of the Reference Group: Shaun Baxter, IT Trainer, NHS Tayside. Vicky Grandison, Business Support Manager, NHS National Services Scotland. Anne Kingstree, Office Manager, Department of Sexual Health, NHS Dumfries and Galloway. Dr Jackie Paterson, Department of Genitourinary Medicine, NHS Tayside. Susie Thomson, Project Manager, NHS Borders. Marion Woods, Manager, Sexual Health Services, NHS Borders. William McIntyre, Project Manager, Atos Origin (on behalf of the Atos Origin Alliance)

Latest News - January 2008

Following the procurement in 2006/2007 it was decided to award the National Sexual Health (NaSH) system contract to AxSys Technology Ltd. The winning bid was a tailored version of the Excelicare product which forms the base software of the national Generic Clinical System (GCS) Toolkit contract for which there is an NHSScotland licence. The outcome of the contract is a NaSH system and enhanced functionality within the GCS Toolkit that is available to all NHSScotland organisations...

 

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