Tags: PACS

SynApps Solutions and Alfresco Launch Open Source VNA Medical Content Platform

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Content management leader SynApps Solutions and its key technology partner Alfresco today unveil ground-breaking Open Source NHS IT solution

Maidenhead, UK, 26 March, 2015 – Content management leader SynApps Solutions and key technology partner Alfresco are today launching the Open Source VNA (Vendor Neutral Archive) medical data system for the UK health market – based on Alfresco’s award-winning technology and functionality from integration leader J4Care, delivered and supported via SynApps’ extensive professional skills and resources.

VNA (Vendor Neutral Archive) platform is a strongly-emerging standards-based way of extending PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) services to manage DICOM and other format content so as to make the sharing of medical and patient information as easy, secure and safe as possible.

The additional benefit of using Open Source resources means Trusts looking to evolve their own local, workable health IT (HIT) solutions can take full ownership of the code and develop it to meet their specific institutional requirements as well as facilitate the sharing of NHS Apps built on the platform.

“We are delighted to be offering certified technology we know works in the NHS via the highly promising route of Open Source,” said SynApps Solutions Sales & Marketing Director, Mark Winstone.

Commenting on the move, Jean van Vuuren, Head of Healthcare UK & Ireland at Alfresco, added, “SynApps is a long-standing partner and a genuine innovator in the area of VNA.

“We are really excited about Alfresco and SynApps coming together with a medical solution that is Open Source at a time when the NHS is really starting to be open to the possibilities that entails.”

All three partners stress their conviction that NHS Trusts can enjoy a wide range of post National Programme for IT benefits via VNA in the field of data management, while Open Source is establishing itself as the way CCIOs can achieve local autonomy and innovation, now the days of big contracts are drawing to a close.

“We believe there is a great synergy between the open standards in a VNA and the Open Source approach offered by Alfresco and believe it has a enormous potential,” confirmed Winstone.

NHS health leaders, CCIOs (Chief Clinical Information Officers) and other HIT (Health IT) stakeholders are invited to hear more at a special launch event being held today, March 26 (1.30 – 4.30 pm), at the Park Plaza Hotel, Leeds, LS1 5NS.

At today’s event, delegates can hear more about an Open Source VNA-based route to clinical content management, with the day focusing on an exploration of the new product, plus presentations from NHS England’s Open Source Programme internal champion, Peter Coates, as well as a pioneering user of the VNA approach – Rachel Dunscombe, CIO, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.

NHS England’s Peter Coates and Rachel Dunscombe, CIO, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, are available for interview on why VNAs are swiftly emerging as the best way for NHS bodies to store and easily access clinical information, as well as why Open Source is the best route out of the Programme for both PACS but a range of other applications – please contact Sarum PR to arrange.

About SynApps

SynApps is an independent services and solutions company specialising in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technologies. Founded in 2003 by former Documentum services professionals, the company provides consultancy, implementation and support services for EMC Documentum, and has authored a suite of content integration solutions, ConXApps, that allow businesses to quickly maximise their investment in ECM technologies. Organisations across healthcare, government and commercial markets rely on SynApps solutions and services to capture and share knowledge more dynamically and efficiently.

Find out more at https://www.synapps-solutions.com or follow the firm on Twitter @SynAppsSol

SynApps Solutions and Alfresco Schedule Key Open Source VNA Launch Event

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Content management leader SynApps Solutions and its key technology partner Alfresco set to unveil new Open Source NHS IT solution

Maidenhead, UK, 26 February, 2015 – Content management leader SynApps Solutions and its key technology partner Alfresco are to host a launch event for an Open Source VNA.

VNA (Vendor Neutral Archive) is a strongly-emerging standards-based way of extending PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) services to manage DICOM and other format content to make the sharing of medical and patient information as easy and safe as possible.

The additional benefit of using Open Source resources means Trusts looking to evolve their own local, workable health IT (HIT) solutions can take full ownership of the code and develop it to meet their specific institutional requirements as well as facilitate the sharing of NHS Apps built on the platform.

NHS health leaders, NHS Chief Clinical Information Officers and other HIT stakeholders are being invited to hear more at a special launch event being held on March 26 (1.30 – 4.30 pm) at the Park Plaza Hotel, Leeds, LS1 5NS.

The event will explore the benefits of a VNA-based approach to creating powerful Clinical Archives using the only Open Source document management platform suited for the purpose, from Alfresco.

Attendees will hear from NHS England’s Open Source Programme internal champion Peter Coates, as well as from Open Source VNA thought leader Rachel Dunscombe, CIO at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. Coates will explore how health and social care organisations can make the most of the growing range of Open Source systems coming on-stream, plus how to get them to yield flexible integration and lower costs, while Dunscombe will discuss why it is important to the NHS and in particular Hospitals to bring together Open Source and VNA technologies.

“We are delighted to be offering “certified” technology which we know works to Trusts via the highly promising route of Open Source,” confirmed SynApps Solutions Sales & Marketing Director, Mark Winstone.

“The Leeds launch promises to be an excellent forum to look at the new product, engage in detailed discussion with VNA and Open Source technology pioneers and experts, as well as network with peers in NHS HIT,” he added.

To secure your FREE place as an NHS IT professional, please visit: http://pages.alfresco.com/open-source-vna-launch-registration.html

About SynApps

SynApps is an independent services and solutions company specialising in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technologies. Founded in 2003 by former Documentum services professionals, the company provides consultancy, implementation and support services for EMC Documentum, and has authored a suite of content integration solutions, ConXApps, that allow businesses to quickly maximise their investment in ECM technologies.

Organisations across healthcare, government and commercial markets rely on SynApps solutions and services to capture and share knowledge more dynamically and efficiently.

Find out more at synapps-solutions.com, or follow on Twitter @SynAppsSol

Synapps To Exhibit At UK e-Health Week, 3-4 March 2015

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Helping Hospital Trusts Realise Their EPR Ambitions Via VNA

UK e-Health Week comes to Olympia, London on 3 – 4 March 2015, bringing together the latest e-Health innovations for those who commission, implement and use them on the frontline.

The event will feature lively pre-election debates, practical solutions and best practice from the most senior technology and healthcare decision makers and experts.

To connect with SynApps at the show, check out its presence on  exhibition stand No. 152 of our long-term ECM partner Alfresco.

Visit us to find out more about our VNA solution – a standards-based way of extending PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) services to incorporate DICOM and other format content so as to make the sharing of medical data easier for clinicians, as well as making patient records available across any combination of service providers.

For more about the event, please visit: http://ukehealthweek.com

Or follow:@UKe_HealthWeek

 

Join NHS England, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Alfresco, SynApps and J4Care for The Open Source VNA Launch on 26 March

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Park Plaza Hotel Leeds Exterior 25766022To be held on Thursday, March 26th, Park Plaza Hotel, Boar Lane, City Square, Leeds, LS1 5NS

1:30 – 4:30: followed by cocktails and canapés.

Join us and other like-minded healthcare and technology professionals for an afternoon that will unveil the SynApps Open Source VNA, including key speaker contributions, solution demonstration & live Q&A.

 

Agenda:

13.30 – 14.00 Registration & Welcome
14.00 – 14.30 Why Open Source within the NHS? – Peter Coates, Open Source Evangelist NHS Health England
14.30 – 15.00 Why is it important to have an Open Source VNA? – Rachel Dunscombe, CIO Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
15.00 – 16.00 VNA – The Open Source Solution
16.00 – 16.30 The zero footprint XDS Viewer for viewing of Electronic Healthcare Records – A demonstration
16.30 – 17.30 Cocktails & Canapés

Key Speakers will include:

  • Rachel Dunscombe, CIO, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. Rachel has extensive experience in the NHS and Private Sector, is a curator of TEDx events and has a passion for innovation and looking at how we can do things differently and
  • Peter Coates, Open Source Evangelist, NHS England.  Peter will explore and discuss alternative models for health and care organisations to acquire and develop the growing range of Open Source systems that are available and how these solutions can deliver superior and flexible integration and lower costs.

Other speakers will include Mark Winstone from SynApps Solutions & Jean van Vuuren from Alfresco. To register for this event, please visit Alfresco on: http://pages.alfresco.com/open-source-vna-launch-registration.html

Synapps To Exhibit At UK e-Health Week, 3-4 March 2015


Kensington_Olympia_exhibition_centre_from_stationHelping Hospital Trusts Realise Their EPR Ambitions Via VNA

UK e-Health Week comes to Olympia, London on 3 – 4 March 2015, bringing together the latest e-Health innovations for those who commission, implement and use them on the frontline.

The event will feature lively pre-election debates, practical solutions and best practice from the most senior technology and healthcare decision makers and experts.

To connect with SynApps at the show, check out its presence on  exhibition stand No. 152 of our long-term ECM partner Alfresco.

Visit us to find out more about our VNA solution – a standards-based way of extending PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) services to incorporate DICOM and other format content so as to make the sharing of medical data easier for clinicians, as well as making patient records available across any combination of service providers.

For more about the event, please visit: http://ukehealthweek.com

Or follow: @UKe_HealthWeek

 

Drive up Care Through Sharing Information – A Patient Centric Approach To Viewing All Medical Information

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By Tony Backhouse, Business Development Manager – Healthcare Division, SynApps Solutions

Last time I talked a bit about the business drivers for NHS IT leaders in terms of bringing together both the structured and unstructured data. I then moved the discussion on to look at how our new Clinical Content Store can (and does) address those issues and help you, as a Trust IT leader, with those challenges.

I want to spend some time talking in a bit more detail about the specifics of the Store and what we are currently offering.

In these past few posts, we have been discussing NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens’ visionary ‘Five Year Forward View’ where he calls for more collaborative, patient-centred care, and access to more and more information to establish a complete picture of a patient’s health.

That’s a movement that’s happening not just at the departmental or even at the hospital-wide level, but beyond it, as different healthcare providers and, soon, social care and other stakeholders including patients themselves, seek to share patient insights to improve care across time and across more than one clinical context.

The SynApps Solutions approach to clinical content management is going to play a key role in addressing that – as it will allow all sorts of healthcare organisations to create a comprehensive, patient-centric view across all current organisational boundaries, irrespective of the content’s format or origin. The aim, at least at national, political level, is to finally get the true EPR happening (sorry but we don’t believe that the mega-suite is the answer to all our EPR prayers) and to becoming a ‘paperless NHS’ (http://digitalchallenge.dh.gov.uk ).

The problem is that this is happening in a time of financial constraint. Indeed, an immediate problem is the end of a lot of old Programme radiology, PACS and EPR contracts. Which means Trusts really have to get on top of what the systems of the future need to be to manage and share the Complete Patient Record.  And to do that they need to take a new approach to the management of all of this information.

So hospitals have to think about what could be the most cost-effective way to migrate back existing imaging data to new platforms while simultaneously ensuring that data remains intact, available and free from vendor lock-in. And as you may know, a popular approach to this challenge has been to consolidate multi-department PACS silos into a vendor neutral archive (VNA), as this offers Trusts an opportunity to consolidate imaging demands into a single repository, using agreed standards to ensure easy data retrieval out again.

The SynApps Clinical Content Storecan do all that, as it has a huge VNA component – but a lot more. A strong claim? Well, how about having a really powerful VNA with the added benefit of market-leading enterprise content management capabilities? What that means is the ability to perform powerful clinical content sharing, storing and management at the top level. That’s to say, not just all the relevant medical images but all the digitised or electronic clinical info too – in one place – which means it immediately enables a fully working EPR. From paper notes to digital images, from hand drawn pictures to Medical Photography, from locked away structured data to video and audio clips.

We are very excited about what CCS means for both SynApps and the market. Please drop us a line so we can continue the discussion.

We are currently offering a free consultative study to scope out the potential of CCS to meet your need, but be aware it is time-limited – so start talking to us today!

Please – take advantage of the seminar [https://www.synapps-solutions.com/events/addressing-the-twin-challenges-of-retiring-applications-while-increasing-access-to-patient-information] on Thursday 29th January at 12.30pm at the London Chamber of Commerce, EC4R 1AR, and find out more about the Clinical Content Store and how it can help you meet your EPR challenge.

 

 

 

Major UK Trust Selects SynApps As New Image Management Solution Partner

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Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust says this will provide us with the basis to share patient information and radiology images more easily within the Trust and with other London hospitals

Maidenhead, UK – 14 January 2015 – Content management leaderSynApps Solutions has today announced that London’s Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will use its VNA (Vendor Neutral Archive) platform to secure transparent and safe access to images and patient information throughout a patient care pathway. 

SynApps has signed a ten-year contract to supply a VNA Clinical Content Store (Vendor Neutral Archive) and ECM (Enterprise Content Management) Platform.

The solution comprises the VNA, an emerging standards-based way of extending PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) services to incorporate DICOM and other format content to make the sharing of medical data easier for clinicians, as well as making patient records available across any combination of service providers – within both the NHS and beyond. The solution also incorporates XDS Repository/Registry cross-document sharing capability, which Kingston can use to create electronic patient records that can be readily accessed by doctors.

The need for a PACS system is driven by the fact that most patients undergo radiology examinations as part of routine diagnosis and treatment process for their illness or injury. The management and communication of the resulting images and information rapidly and efficiently with healthcare stakeholders is increasingly being seen as central to delivering high quality patient care, according to NHS England.

“We feel we are making real a long-term vision of VNA and electronic data and content management all living in one unified repository with the SynApps solution,” confirmed Norman Harling, Deputy Director of Information Management & Technology at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

“We are delighted to be helping Kingston improve the availability of patient information and radiology images to Kingston clinicians and eventually to other London hospitals through our VNA,” added SynApps Solutions’ Managing Director, Jim Whitelaw.

“What makes a VNA-based solution so powerful is that we know it works, we know it’s in place – and that a VNA approach can lay the ground work for a truly integrated electronic patient record as demanded by the NHS 2018 Paperless challenge.

“The interest and take up of the solution by UK Trusts is testament to the VNA approach’s huge potential.”

About Kingston Hospital

Kingston Hospital supports around 350,000 people in the surrounding area including Kingston, Richmond, Roehampton, Putney and East Elmbridge. We were the first acute Trust in south west London to gain Foundation Trust status when we were authorised in May 2013.

We have approximately 520 beds and directly employ around 2,750 staff with another 300 staff employed by contractors but working on behalf of the Trust. Our main site is the Kingston Hospital site but we also run a number of outpatients clinics in the community, including in Raynes Park, Surbiton, Queen Mary’s Roehampton and Teddington. We provide a full range of diagnostic and treatment services and our flagship services include maternity, day surgery and care for patients with dementia.

About SynApps

SynApps is an independent services and solutions company specialising in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technologies. Founded in 2003 by former Documentum services professionals, the company provides consultancy, implementation and support services for EMC Documentum, and has authored a suite of content integration solutions, ConXApps, that allow businesses to quickly maximise their investment in ECM technologies.

 Organisations across healthcare, government and commercial markets rely on SynApps solutions and services to capture and share knowledge more dynamically and efficiently.

Find out more at synapps-solutions.com, or follow the firm on Twitter @SynappSol