KUALA LUMPUR: Digital health is streamlining the way hospitals deliver care and ensuring that healthcare providers can work more efficiently.
Recently, KPJ Damansara Specialist Hospital 2 has gone live with their new clinical system, SystmOne, from software company TPP, a UK Digital Health company based in Leeds in the United Kingdom. The new specialist hospital is just the launch site for a complete digital transformation programme, which will see TPP deliver their system to all 29 hospitals in the KPJ group.
TPP SystmOne enables hospitals to access complete electronic health records for all their patients. It allows patients to have greater control of their own care and facilitates health providers in giving optimum healthcare, tailored to each patient’s needs. Every patient record is stored in a secure central system and be accessed by health providers wherever and whenever they need it, with full patient consent.
TPP’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Frank Hester OBE, said the system would expedite care for patients and improve the hospital’s overall operation and management. It reduces waiting times and eliminates the need for patients to submit repetitive forms with regards to their health, he added.
“It is the right time for KPJ to implement the system. They will significantly benefit from it.
“The hospital will run extremely efficiently. It provides better experience for patients and staff, reduces mistakes, and improves safety. It’s also very easy for doctors and nurses to use”, he told The New Straits Times in a recent interview.
I also think this a great opportunity for our region. There is incredible expertise in healthcare technology across Yorkshire, within industry, the public sector, and academia. I know first-hand how invaluable that expertise is to the NHS and to every health system in the world. We need to shout about it. There are skills and services here that we should be using to help our NHS through these difficult times and exporting to every corner of the planet. There’s every reason to believe that our region can become the health technology capital of the world.
In the UK, he noted that the system had helped facilitate patient care as it enables data to be shared both across hospitals and between hospitals, clinics, and GPs.
“When the records are shared, it means the patients do not have to answer the same questions twice.
“If they turn up unconscious at the emergency unit, then doctors know their complete medical history and any current conditions.
“That is very helpful because you want the doctors to know what is going on with you so that they can give you the right treatment,” he said.
Dato’ Dr Sivamohan, the digital transformation programme leader of KPJ Damansara Specialist Hospital 2, shared aspects of their digital journey so far with TPP in KPJ Damansara 2, highlighting TPP’s smartphone app for patients.
“We have a fantastic app called ‘Airmid’, a patient app. Patient feedback is extremely important as the patient is our focus. This app allows patients in every department, not only in the clinic, but in pharmacy, radiology, lab, wards… to give feedback on how their experience is.
“Just like the Airmid app, we also have a fantastic app for doctors called ‘Brigid’. Whatever we see in the electronic medical record is available at our fingertips with this doctors’ Brigid App.
“With SystmOne, instead of waiting for 3 to 4 hours, we cut down the time to 30 minutes. We don’t want our patients to wait too long. We will be the first hospital in the country – and probably the first hospital in the KPJ group – to introduce a system for facilitating insurance and third-party claims.”
Hester noted the company had received a lot of interest in Malaysia from both public and private hospitals and that there was a consensus that digital healthcare should make inroads in the local healthcare industry.
The UK Minister for Exports, Marcus Fysh, shared that “We’re proud of our British exporters, selling fantastic products and services made here in the UK to the world. This win for TPP – bringing their innovative digital health systems to 29 hospitals across Malaysia – is excellent news.
“The Government is working around the clock to help businesses take advantage of our Free Trade Agreements and remove market access barriers so they can grasp exciting new business opportunities, just as TPP has done.”
Hester said that TPP’s comprehensive solutions that could cater to different needs in other countries, all around the Asia-Pacific region.
“Each country has its own set of challenges. Rather than walking into another country in the region and telling them we have got what they need, we still need to know what exact healthcare problems they are struggling with, to ensure we can provide the right solutions.
“We have a very comprehensive system so we think we should be able to help different countries with differing needs,” he said.
Hester said that it had been great working with KPJ as they were all excited to go live with the system. He said the doctors and nurses at the hospital had enthusiastically adopted SystmOne, as it was a system tailored for them.
“When we were showing them the system, they already knew what they wanted to change. They knew it could improve the overall hospital operation and improve patient care. That was fantastic to see,” he said.
Dato Siva further noted, in his speech at ASEAN Healthcare Transformation Summit, how they will deliver SystmOne to all 29 hospitals in the KPJ group.
“We’ve deployed to Damansara 2 as a pilot. We will then replicate this across the whole KPJ group, so that we have a single patient, single record. Patients can move from one hospital to another. If the government decides to use SystmOne for the Ministry of Health, then KPJ will be the first hospital that can link the system with the government.
“This is a transformation journey for KPJ. We want to transform ourselves and consider this as a transformation journey to change the healthcare delivery system in Malaysia. KPJ now intends to take a lead and this is only possible with our partner TPP. I think we chose the right system, we’ve already started using the system and this is just the beginning. Moving forward, Hester said that Malaysia will offer the very best standards in healthcare, both in the public and private sector. He stressed that there should be a goal for minimal difference in terms of quality, wherever a patient is cared for.
He underscored the importance of giving quality treatment for patients, in every hospital.
“I know when you go to private hospitals the waiting time is shorter and maybe the rooms or meals are better compared to public hospitals.
“However, it would be fantastic if we could limit the differences to only those factors and ensure patients get the same quality of care whether they choose to go to public or private hospitals,” he added.