As one of the world's foremost university teaching hospitals and one of England's leading hospitals, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides local services to more than half-a-million people in the Cambridge area.

By supporting quality management system (QMS) processes such as Auditing, Document Control and CA/PA Management, Q-Pulse is helping the Trust to maintain their compliance with standards such as ISO 9001:2008, as well as to continually improve the quality of their systems and processes.

The Oncology Centre at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge offers a highly integrated approach to the management of both common and rare cancers, and provides a service to more than 4000 new patients each year, from East Anglia and beyond.

The Centre required a compliance management solution that could support QMS processes including Audit, Document Control and CA/PA Management. Such a system would also be able to integrate with other departmental network systems, as well as expanding to include other departments as required.

With Q-Pulse already in place within the Hospital, other departments including the Centre saw the system as a solution to the increasing time, effort and cost spent in managing their compliance to the requirements of regulations and standards, including ISO 9001.

Following an upgrade to the Enterprise Edition of Q-Pulse, the Hospital subsequently expanded the implementation of Q-Pulse across several departments, including Oncology, Medical Physics, Pharmacy, Nuclear Medicine and the Regional Genetics Laboratory.

"Q-Pulse offered a flexible range of functionality, as well as a healthy and mature user base, especially in the healthcare sector", explains Anne Emmett, Oncology and Haematology QA Manager at Addenbrookes Hospital Oncology Centre.

"The system had already been installed at the Centre prior to my arrival in post, but hadn't been fully set up to support the QMS. This subsequently let me implement Q-Pulse as the key component for QA management in our ongoing compliance with ISO 9001.

"The latest version permits more users to access the system at the same time," says Anne, "which has allowed everyone to work on the same system for compliance documentation. This should allow us to reduce the reliance on paper documentation and tracking and monitoring that we've had in the past."

"In addition, Q-Pulse's user-friendly Windows-style interface offers staff using the system a familiar interface with which they can feel more comfortable. This should make it easier for staff to carry out compliance-related activities and should also serve to encourage ownership of the QMS.

In addition to reducing time, effort and cost in maintaining compliance, the departments sought to improve their management of compliance with regulatory requirements. Q-Pulse has now enabled the centralisation of all QMS information across several departments, reducing time, effort and cost.

With access to QMS information over multiple databases through Q-Pulse Enterprise, the Hospital has been able to standardise the system used to support the QMS across several departments, including Oncology, Medical Physics, Pharmacy, Nuclear Medicine and the Regional Genetics Laboratory.

"Within Medical Physics, Q-Pulse has given us more control over our documents throughout the document management process," says Marc Wiseman, Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering QM Coordinator at Addenbrookes. "In particular, the ability to identify outstanding actions and automatically notify appropriate personnel has enabled us to enhance the accuracy of controlled documents and their associated records.

"In addition, we're now able to track and monitor our documents at each and every stage of the change control process," says Marc. "Being able to identify at-a-glance which documents are due for review, which are being revised and which have been approved has enabled us to reduce the time and effort that we spend throughout the Department in managing our controlled documentation."

By allowing interlinked departments to centralise their QMS information, the Hospital has also been able to standardise the management of their QMS, which has enabled them to streamline their management of compliance with regulations and standards including ISO 9001.

"As a result of its effectiveness in supporting the QMS, we're currently focused on deploying Q-Pulse to a steadily-increasing number of users throughout the Trust," says Anne.

"Within the Centre, we use the complete range of modules to support our QMS. Other departments have used the Documents and Training modules to begin with, and began using other modules as they became more familiar with the system.

"Their growing familiarity with the system has also allowed other departments to realise Q-Pulse's capabilities more fully, as well the benefits they can offer in maintaining and improving the systems and processes in place throughout the Trust."

Conclusion

In the UK, within disciplines such as Oncology, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine compliance with ISO 9001:2008 is strongly recommended to ensure that healthcare organisations can provide high quality services that continue to meet patients' needs in an efficient and effective manner.

In disciplines such as Oncology, ISO 9001:2008 compliance can help to improve both the administration of chemotherapy and the implementation of clinical trials. In addition, compliance can help to increase patient satisfaction by assuring patients, regulatory authorities and certification bodies of the high quality of services available.

With compliance now mandatory in disciplines such as Radiotherapy, healthcare organisations are implementing compliance management solutions like Q-Pulse to support their quality management systems (QMS) in continually assessing the quality of their systems and processes.

Q-Pulse supports disciplines including Genetics, Medical Physics, Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Pharmacy in ensuring that their processes are built on the capabilities and competencies of all available resources, and in ensuring that services continue to meet patients' needs.

By supporting quality management system (QMS) processes such as Auditing, Document Control and CA/PA Management, Q-Pulse helps healthcare organisations to manage their compliance with standards such as ISO 9001:2008, and to continually improve the quality of their systems and processes.

Contact us now on +44 1355 593 400 or at oncology@gaelquality.com to to find out more about how Q-Pulse can support your QMS.