Software firms ‘marriage’ will benefit NHS
YORK-based RedBlack Software and CMA Associates have formed a new company to deliver software to hospitals and NHS organisations.
Prosum Alliance will offer software that measures the effectiveness of NHS initiatives.
The software is already supporting a pilot project run by Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority to establish a common approach to benefits management.
The project focuses on a local health community in Bradford consisting of Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Airedale Hospital and Bradford District Care Trust, all of which are scheduled to start using Prosum software in April.
Until now, there has been no consolidated way for NHS organisations to monitor when changes have delivered improvement, demonstrate that they are providing a safe and effective service, report on whether initiatives have made improvements against health outcomes or accurately measure such improvements against agreed targets.
Instead of dealing with disparate (often paper-based) information from multiple sources relating to numerous mandates, Prosum allows users to easily define the outcomes and benefits they are interested in, capture data about them and measure them in a meaningful manner.
Humber Mental Health Teaching Trust was the first NHS organisation to install the Prosum benefits management software in October last year.
Adrian King, business systems manager, corporate assurance, Humber Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust, said: “We now are able to gather information that demonstrates project outputs and the way in which they will support programme and strategic objectives at all levels.”
CMA Associates delivers high-quality support, change management and interim management to the UK’s healthcare market.
RedBlack Software develops and delivers business management systems to more than 100 organisations in the UK.
Mark Limber, of CMA Associated said that Prosum Alliance was a good marriage between two local companies.
“We are very much focused on delivering services and improvements into the NHS and RedBlack is a very well-known software company in York focused on rapid, successful software development,” he said.
RedBlack Software managing director Jane Tyler added: “With our down-to-earth attitude to developing software for commercial operations and strong project management skills, we have relished the challenge of creating a tool that can be so useful to the NHS, which is after all Europe’s biggest business.”
