Storing medical records securely off-site with noteSpace
It is well known that space in General Practice has always been at a premium. In 2006 the GPC premises survey showed most GP premises were of high quality and purpose built, but no longer had sufficient space for 21st century practice. A more recent BMA survey carried out in 2010 showed that three-quarters of GP practice premises may not be able to meet the needs of patients.
As reported in the FPM Bulletin of 13th June it has been well documented that there has been no funding available for GP Premises on a universal basis since 1996. In addition the withdrawal of premises development budgets by PCOs and the restriction on funding for anything other than minor works has left Practices questioning how they will meet the government’s goal of bringing care out of hospitals and into the community.
With this in mind, a rapidly growing number of General Practices are looking at alternative methods of creating space.
The proven method for generating the additional space needed is to place the vast amount of paper copy medical records held at the Practice into a secure off-site storage facility.
Historically for a General Practice to do this, it has been a logistical nightmare with secure storage suppliers not understanding or able to offer all of the elements required to provide seamless off-site storage.
Niche Health is the specialist provider of purpose built secure off-site storage for UK General Practice. Managing all processes through easy to use software, noteSpace enables on site boxing & bar coding, recalling, delivery either physically or as scanned image of the paper copy medical records and full auditing of all record movement.
We are able to empower GPs to reclaim lost space and offer more of the Secondary Care services that they are currently under pressure to provide.
Other uses of the space generated at Practices across the UK have been:
- More consulting space
- Improving the security of records
- More administrative space
- A better working environment
- Extending reception areas
- Improving waiting rooms
The Barkantine case study illustrates one of these uses in more detail…..
The Barkantine Practice, despite having large premises, found it required more space to achieve its goals of providing additional services and increasing its administrative efficiency.
The answer was noteSpace, an innovative and secure off-site storage solution. After investigation the Practice had full confidence and the paper copy medical records have now left the building...
Based in Canary Wharf, London, The Barkantine Practice services the needs of over 17 000 patients via a large, multipurpose Health Centre and a newly opened branch site. In little over four years its patient list size has expanded from 7000 to over 17000. The space taken to store the paper copy medical records has also expanded from a large area in reception to occupying a second room also.
Each practice has its own motivation for needing to create space. At The Barkantine more administrative staff were needed to cope with the increased patient lists and more telephone triage needed to be conducted. They were looking for the answer as to where they could house this. The answer was noteSpace.
Practice Manager Mostafa Farook says: “We were considering how we might achieve our goals for the Practice and the storage issues we had so were amazed when we found Niche Health’s noteSpace solution whilst at the EMIS National User Group. “
Mike Gould, Lead Nurse says; “Following the show Niche Health visited our Practice to demonstrate the software and discuss the service with other members of our team. We even visited the storage facility which was impressive and gave us additional confidence that the patient medical records would be even more secure once taken off-site. From here we agreed a date for ‘clear down’ and the wheels were set in motion”.
From here Receptionist Emma Peacock explains what happened next, “Niches team arrived on the Monday and started the cataloguing, boxing and barcoding process. Given our large number of patient medical records the team were with us for 9 days but amazingly there was no disruption just the occasional question when needed. By the end of the process the building was clear of records and after a short training session on the noteSpace software we began requesting records back either physically or electronically as required. The whole process was painless”.
In talking about the benefits of noteSpace, Mostafa explains, ‘not only do we now have the much needed additional desk space in reception and a new store room, we save hours of time each week because we no longer need to physically search for the records as noteSpace tells us where they are at the click of a button!'
Describing why the noteSpace solution has been developed, Guy Bridgewater, former founder of Healthcare document management specialists PCTI Solutions, clarifies; "We know that many General Practices in the UK struggle for floor space with cramped buildings servicing ever growing patient requirements. Despite scanning and document management technologies being widely used, we were acutely aware that this was a missing piece in the 'paperless' jigsaw that needed a cost effective, practical and complete solution covering the nuances of 'Lloyd George and A4 GP Paper records management'. Our intricate understanding of General Practice IT has enabled us to provide a solution that offers exactly that.
Niche Health is the leading supplier of secure off-site medical record storage for UK General Practice. The company has been built on the foundations of over 20 years Healthcare IT experience combined with over 25 years of Records Management expertise.
Visit their advert on the FPM website HERE