BT has its finger on the pulse

BT has opened a health and pharmaceutical showcase at Adastral Park, Ipswich. The showcase highlights how people, pharmaceutical products and information and communications technology (ICT) can interact to create a healthcare environment that is not only more efficient but also safer and more secure.

The showcase is an interactive centre, which follows the day-to-day journeys of four key factors in the UK healthcare system:

• the patient,

• healthcare professional,

• the pharmaceutical sales representative and

• the product.

Through the use of new ICT at each stage of their journey, the people and the pharmaceutical products will interact in a more rewarding and more controlled way.

One of the major changes in the healthcare market of recent years has been the increase in patient demand for information. The showcase looks to address this, showing the latest in streaming video and instant communications for both the reception area and doctor's office. Among the demonstrations it includes a GP reception revolutionised by the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. RFID tags hold information on items they are attached to and pass this on to appropriate devices through radio communications. This allows automated logging of patients with pre-booked appointments, as well as the display of relevant health information for each individual patient. Customised screen displays can be achieved through the introduction of patient leaflets with RFID tags, which will produce on-screen information when they come within range of an RF reader.

Use of next-generation ICT also extends to hospitals, which are also under increasing pressure to improve performance. For example, patients are becoming more litigious and the number of deaths attributable to mistakes in medication is rising according to experts. A key to reducing the risk of medical error is the construction of a 'closed-loop' information system, whereby doctors have almost instantaneous access to up-to-date patient records, as well as data from equipment currently monitoring the patient.

Healthcare professionals will be able to monitor more closely the dosages received by patients and the times when the medications were administered. The pharmacy can be brought into the loop by the use of 'e-trolleys' on hospital wards, which would provide constant information about stock levels of medications and the usage of controlled drugs. Electronic prescribing via PDAs is another aspect of this move away from paper-based recording of data, a step which should help to reduce the risk of misreading a doctor's handwriting!

The final aspect of the showcase focuses on the manufacture, delivery and sale of pharmaceutical products. This involves a complex and extended supply chain, any link of which can be exposed to mix-up and human error. The final aim of the supply system is to get the right product to the right patient at the right time. However, with so many products being manufactured in such wide ranges of doses and pack sizes, the challenge has been to introduce a tracking system that improves control without significantly slowing down the speed of production and delivery.

Barcodes have been widely used to track products through the supply chain, the human element inherent in the checking system inevitably slows down delivery speed and introduces the potential for error. RFID technology offers pharmaceutical companies the opportunity to fully automate the process of tracking, with consequent improvements in security and safety. It is also an effective measure in proving the pedigree of drugs and could be a tool used by pharmaceutical companies to stop counterfeit products coming on to the market.

Selling to GPs and pharmacists on the benefits of products can also be problematic for pharmaceutical companies. Up to 75% of a pharmaceutical sales representative's working day is spent on non-sales related activity such as waiting, travelling and administration. The showcase looks to demonstrate that this figure can be substantially reduced by adoption of a tailored mobile data-communication system. As well as real-time access to vital information just before or during an appointment with a healthcare professional, improved communications technology cuts down travel time and allows sales representatives to bring GPs and pharmacists up to speed on the latest drugs online from their own home.

David Butcher, managing director customer management, BT Exact, BT's technology and IT operations division, said: 'The face of UK healthcare is changing and the showcase gives us an opportunity to share our ICT vision for the health and pharmaceutical industry. It demonstrates the way in which advanced but existing, hardware and software can revolutionise the manufacturing, marketing and monitoring of pharmaceutical products. This isn't science fiction, it's real and we can help make a significant difference today to the healthcare market.'

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