Black Pear provides interoperability between three major GP systems

Black Pear Ltd is delighted to announce that we are now nearing the end of piloting our eRA (electronic Referrals and Appointments) application with 16 TPP practices at Swindon CCG. This is enabling seamless integration between the Urgent Care Centre and their EMIS Web, TPP SystmOne and INPS Vision GP practices.

The solution was initiated to extend patient access to GPs and is aligned to the goals of the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund. It has been suggested that GPs are best placed to manage patients with long term conditions but are spending much of their time dealing with acute cases. Equally, patients with urgent, acute problems could not always get same day appointments, impacting on A&E.

To help combat these issues, GPs in the CCG need to be able to triage patients and decide whether a patient needs to see their own GP or whether it would be appropriate for the patient to visit the Urgent Care Centre. Black Pear’s app allows practice staff to view available appointments and book a convenient appointment at the Urgent Care Centre. Integrating with the GP system, a clinical précis is produced and sent to the centre in advance of the appointment. Updates to the patient record as a result of the consultation are messaged back to the practice where it can be accepted back into the main GP record.

Swindon CCG has a mixed economy of GP systems: EMIS Web, INPS Vision and TPP SystmOne with EMIS Web installed at the hub. The urgent care centre has now been running for over a year for EMIS Web practices, with INPS Vision practices introduced six months ago. The solution has enabled more than 16,000 hub consultations to date. Integration with TPP SystmOne uses interface mechanisms made available through the GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) framework, requiring Black Pear to work closely both with TPP and with the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) who assured the integration.

Notes:
GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) programme is managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). For more information about the GPSoC interface mechanism, go to:

• Overview animation: http://systems.hscic.gov.uk/gpsoc/interface
• More detail: http://systems.hscic.gov.uk/gpsoc/interface/mechanisms