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| Terranova provides Numbers for Babies in the UK |
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Posted: 3 February 2003
Terranova Pacific Services Ltd has recorded its first birth as part of the National Numbers for Babies project in the United Kingdom.
Terranova Pacific Services Ltd, a local health software company, has recorded its first birth as part of the National Numbers for Babies project in the United Kingdom. In New Zealand, babies' births have been assigned an NHI number since 1995 using Terranova software. However in the United Kingdom the new computerised 'numbers for babies' system went live across the National Health Service at midnight on 29 October, marking a significant step towards the goal of electronic patient records. The numbers are generated by a link to the NHS central computer system and printed on birth notification notices produced by Terranova Healthware. The maternity unit at Guys and St Thomas’s hospital in London was one of the first to use the new system. Elizabeth Hunter, Information Development Midwife, said the first baby to be issued with a number at birth was recorded shortly after go live at 01:45. The new system is simple to use and will make it easier for NHS staff to match test results, monitor quality of care and improve neonatal research. It is designed to reduce the risk of mistakes and lost records during the first few months of a baby's life.
CEO Brian Vass is delighted with Terranova's involvement in this achievement saying “it is another example of innovation in New Zealand Health Software where New Zealand leads the world”. The company specialises in electronic patient record systems and has many customers in the neonatal and women's health environment in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Prior to the launch of the new system, NHS numbers were manually given to babies when their births were registered which in some cases could be up to six weeks after birth. During the intervening period, they could have undergone tests and treatment in different locations, and may have changed name and address. Giving every baby born in England and Wales an NHS identifier from birth will help ensure records are consistent and universally available to health service staff.
The Times reports the aim of the scheme is to provide an extra safeguard in a baby's care during the first weeks of life. The scheme is the result of a four-year project carried out under the aegis of the NHS Information Authority.
Under the old system, a baby would have had to wait until civil registration, when he would be up to six weeks old, before his NHS number was issued. In that time, records of any medical care he received were more likely to go astray without a number to keep track of them.
A spokesman for the scheme said: "Thanks to the new system, baby Jack's NHS record will be available from day one to healthcare professionals wherever and whenever it might be needed." |
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ It never ceases to amaze me just how may world leading innovations come out a a country as small as New Zealand. We often don’t realize that our innovations stack up just as well if not better than other countries on the world stage.”
Dr Mark Billinghurst, Director, HIT Lab NZ, 2002
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