Custom care

Medical institutions around the world are all looking to improve the speed, accuracy and effectiveness of patient care. However, working with medical institutions to ensure that new equipment is designed with these goals in mind can be challenging, not least because of regulatory hurdles. End users have an important role in the design of any equipment. In a medical setting, this consultation is especially important because equipment that is difficult to use is potentially life threatening. Historically, the NHS could be characterised by local buying decisions and non standard IT systems. Whilst progress has been made towards standardising and centralising NHS systems, coordinating a large design project that addresses the needs of a range of end users within the organisation may have been impossible prior to the foundation of NHS Connecting for Health (CfH). Established in April 2005 as the single national IT provider for the NHS, CfH has the goal of maintaining, developing and delivering IT products and services. Its remit encompasses a ‘joined up’ approach to healthcare, and with that in mind, there are signs that CfH is taking a more collaborative stance to tackling IT infrastructure issues than has been the case in the past. The approach involves leveraging its considerable size and buying power, enabling it to engage with suppliers to ensure that hardware and software is better suited to the needs of users.