New IT System Boosts Cancer Care in West Midlands

Electronic Reporting System Tracks 7,000 New Cancer Cases Each Year

London, United Kingdom, 26th October 2005 - Orion Systems Limited, a provider of integration and clinical workflow software to the healthcare sector, announced today that West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Unit (WMCIU) has successfully deployed a pan-community IT system to collect mandatory cancer wait time data and to improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients.

Every year around 7,000 Birmingham residents are diagnosed with cancer. Most patients require complex care that must be coordinated between multiple health providers, often spread across several NHS Trusts.

The data collection system, known as CAUDICO ("Collecting and Using Data to Improve Cancer Outcomes"), will improve the consistency of reporting cancer waiting times across eight NHS Trusts in the Birmingham region. The system also provides the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network with a valuable set of data that can be used to improve the care for cancer patients in the region.

Using CAUDICO, data on a patient's treatment is collected while patients progress through the health system. This enables all Trusts involved in the patient journey to track progress, and helps to identify service bottlenecks. Automated alerts help to identify patients who are in danger of breaching the waiting times targets.

The system is now being used across all of the trusts in the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network.

"The CAUDICO project is about turning the mandatory data reporting process into a tool to improve patient care," explained Dr Gill Lawrence, Director of the West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Unit. "With more than 500 new cancer cases recorded each month in the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network, it made sense to expand the range of data collected and harness it to provide electronically generated clinical outcome measures for providers. Orion Systems has provided us with a technology solution that supports this proactive strategy."

The system is currently being extended to include pathology data consistent with the Royal College of Pathologists minimum dataset for lung cancer histopathology reports. This will be used by those pathologists in Birmingham specialising in lung cancer. The solution will be extended in later phases to incorporate Breast, Head and Neck, Colorectal and other cancer pathology data sets.

Data are collected both through automated synchronisation from individual Trusts into the CAUDICO system, as well as through manual collection via a web browser. Partial records of care can be collected, with additional information being added to records later as it becomes available.

Orion's Soprano™ Workflow Engine software is used to compare the collected data against national requirements outlined by government agencies, and against best-practice clinical guidelines, to providers across the entire continuum of care.

"The pioneering CAUDICO project is good news for cancer patients in the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network," said Mark Capill, European Manager for Orion Systems Limited. "The successful roll-out of this complex system demonstrates that Orion's integration products are highly adaptable to the business needs of diverse health agencies, and illustrates the deep experience of Orion's implementation staff."

Orion Systems Limited provided Soprano™ Workflow Engine, Concerto™ Medical Applications Portal and Rhapsody™ Integration Engine software for the project, as well as implementation expertise, and worked in close cooperation with staff from WMCIU and the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network to deliver the CAUDICO solution.

About West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Unit
West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Unit (WMCIU) is the cancer data collection agency for the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom, and is one of the oldest cancer registries in the United Kingdom, founded in 1957. WMCIU covers 5.3 million people and tracks 30,000 new cancer episodes annually. More information can be found online at www.wmpho.org.uk/wmciu.

About Pan Birmingham Cancer Network
Pan Birmingham Cancer Network was formed in 2001 and links together the organisations that provide care for people with cancer across Birmingham. Pan Birmingham Cancer Network works closely with patients, carers, health professionals and managers to help implement the NHS Cancer Plan for the people of Birmingham. The Network covers a population of 1.6 million people and encompasses 1 Strategic Health Authority, 10 Primary Care Trusts, 9 Hospital Trusts, 4 Hospices and a number of voluntary organisations. More information can be found online at www.birminghamcancer.nhs.uk.

About Orion Systems Limited
Orion Systems Limited is a global leader in integration and clinical workflow technology for the health sector. Orion's award-winning tools and applications facilitate the secure access to and exchange of information between hospitals, doctors and clinicians, improving the communications and connectivity between providers. Orion's products are used and trusted by customers include Walsall NHS Primary Care Trust, Swindon Marlborough NHS Trust, Tameside & Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust, Oracle Corporation and Philips Medical Systems. More information can be found at www.orionhealth.com.