Black Pear and Moorfields delivering interoperability

Over the last couple of months, we have been working in collaboration with Moorfields Eye Hospital and Charing Systems to develop a prototype solution to enable clinical information sharing between community ophthalmology clinics and hospitals.  Funded by the NHS Information Sharing Challenge Fund, the project focuses on patients attending clinics for their initial assessment of glaucoma.  Our app, iRIS allows optometrists to capture essential data and by interoperating with Moorfields’ OpenEyes, hospital-based consultants can remotely confirm the diagnosis of glaucoma.  On confirmation of a glaucoma diagnosis, the community optometrist can refer the patient on for further treatment.

The prototype was developed to hasten the referral process, whilst eliminating unnecessary referrals at an earlier stage.   Enabling consultants to work remotely promotes huge efficiency savings and results in a much faster service for the patient.  By leveraging the benefits of tablet computing, glaucoma assessments could be performed in high street opticians or outreach clinics bringing care closer to the patient.

The solution was implemented using OpenEHR and ITK technologies, with help from Tactix4 and Ocean Informatics.  Thanks also extend to Prof James Morgan, Consultant Ophthalmologist for clinical input.