HMS have been working closely with our customers to further refine and expand the HMS MediCall^© system, whilst also concentrating on research and development of new technologies.

We are proud to announce the first of several exciting new developments scheduled for 2007, the HMS Mobile Accelerator^©.

What does the HMS Mobile Accelerator^© do? It allows the full HMS MediCall^© system to be run on a mobile device using a standard GPRS connection.

This means Clinicians can now view Live Activity and view full patient history records including recent calls actioned by other Clinicians, as all data is kept fully up-to-date. Out Of Hours Clinicians can Triage while out on the road and update the patient record immediately. Calls can be passed from the car to anywhere within the HMS system using Pass Locations. Both Mobile and Desktop versions of HMS MediCall^© look and function identically, making the training of new users quicker and easier.

This technology could also be used to enable Clinicians to work securely from home without the need for expensive N3 connections or extra hardware or software.

We believe the new HMS Mobile Accelerator^© is a unique product and puts HMS, and therefore our customers, at the forefront of mobile clinical technology and, along with further steps planned for later in the year, we plan to stay there.

HMS rolled out this ground breaking technology as a Free upgrade to our customers on the 25th of January and already we are receiving enthusiastic reports back from both Clinicians and Managers.

Take Care Now (based in Ipswich, Suffolk) were delighted when HMS's MediCall system had a hugely successful 'Go Live' on Wednsday 3rd May 2006. TCN have twelve remote bases and twelve mobile units covering a significant geographical area in the east of england. HMS worked closely with BT, IT hardware company IcoSys and TCN's internal staff trainers in the weeks leading up to Go Live to ensure that everything ran smoothly. In the first week of operation over 2500 patient contacts were handled by the new system and were reported securely via email to the local GP surgeries.

The following week TCN asked HMS to install its integrated MIU Module for use in their new, state of the art Minor Injury Unit in Ipswich. This is now fully operational, nurses are recording their observations and treatments using the HMS system and where needed, patients are being referred between the Out of Hours and Minor Injury services.

After such a successful beginning, HMS are looking forward to working closely with TCN on exciting developments in the future.

HMS have added a new, fully integrated Dental module to its software, allowing incoming calls to the Call-handling Centre to be directed to a dental triage resource. Patients can then be given appointments to come in for emergency dental treatment.

All Triage and Treatment notes are recorded on the system along with the patient's Own Dentist and Dental Surgery and their exemption status for payment for dental treatment. Invoices for dental treatment charges can be printed and issued at the time of treatment and recorded on the system, as well as prescriptions. HMS's much lauded reporting services offer a wide range of statistical information at the touch of a button.

HMS has won praise for its unrivalled training and support, and our easy-to-use system has meant that after just two weeks of operation, one brand new Dental Service is already dealing smoothly with up to 60 calls a day.

A new way of recording information from within a consultation is now available, and it's called Clinical Assessment. This function can be developed to suit each Service module within the HMS system, (such as A&E, MIU, Dental or OOH), to record and display any relevant information about the patient and their treatment. The information stays with the patient's call record as it follows its pathway and is able to be viewed, updated and added to by any Clinician at any point of treatment.

The Observations section allows multiple recordings of obs such as temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, sats and much more. These readings can be displayed in both list form and, where appropriate, graphical form to assist Clinicians in their interpretation of the data. All data is stored with the patient's electronic record and can viewed at any time retrospectively.

This facility is very adaptable and can be developed to assist with Triaging and Patient Streaming decision making, recording extra details about the patient or recording specific treatment or injury information.

With the ever increasing development of 24 hour unscheduled care and the drive for patient Single Point Of Contact, HMS has continued its comprehensive development of both software and operational systems with this new release.

A new Pass locations button gives Clinicians access to HMS's powerful new LIVE predictive workload pressure monitor and greatly simplifies the pass option selection process.

The new Live Activity icon gives Receptionists the ability to monitor the LIVE workload pressure levels at other locations, to see which staff are logged on at other bases and to quickly call up the contact information of any location using the HMS system.

From within the new Live Activity screen, the Edit Threshold button allows anyone with the correct user rights to adjust the workload capacity of a clinic, immediately alerting everyone on the HMS system to a sudden increase in resource pressure, eg if a staff member fails to arrive or falls ill, or if a consulting room becomes unavailable.

We have also embedded access to the TVEA bed allocation figures to enable HMS users to view this without leaving the HMS system.

HMS are excited to announce the release of a major new upgrade to the MediCall system called HMS MediCall v1.5.

The core HMS values of security, reliability and simplicity have been continued in HMS MediCall v1.5, yet we have added a raft of new features which we believe makes HMS MediCall v1.5 the most powerful, flexible and forward thinking Patient Event Handling system available.

Our system is already fully integrated into Unscheduled 24/7 Care and allows events to be passed between A&E, Minor Injuries Units, GP Out Of Hours and imminently Dental Clinics. We are building towards allowing patients a single point of access for all their medical needs. We have written our software with the NHS's future plans in mind and are ready and waiting to make them a reality. Below is a summary of the additional features that we have added with the HMS MediCall v1.5 upgrade. For a wider view of our solutions and services please explore the HMS website.

Administrators can now create services and clinics for a particular location from a number of ready-made templates. These clinics can have calls passed to them by call-handlers, have their own reception screens and have appointments booked against them. Clinicians and Receptionists now have an even more flexible and intuitive way of viewing their workloads. They can choose to view all their areas of responsibility together on one screen, or they can choose to look at just a specific service or clinic. Clinicians can easily pass calls between services, clinics and disciplines making fully integrated care a potential reality.

We have also introduced a fully integrated, flexible appointments system that allows appointments to be created and viewed across a range of inter-linked sites and clinics by both Clinicians and Receptionists in an intuitive, user friendly way. Receptionists can also move or remove appointments, make block bookings, print automatically created confirmation letters and print the day's appointments for a location or individual clinic. A patient's appointment history and future appointments are recorded as part of their single electronic record, and can be viewed when logging a new event or when viewing the appointment screen.

We will soon be updating our solutions pages with these new features so please come back and visit our site again soon. Please contact us to arrange a demonstration visit now.