A therapy system developed by an independent Leicester IT firm has delivered healthcare outcomes yet to be achieved by the Government's multi billion pound ‘Connecting for Health IT Programme', and won national recognition in the e-Health Innovation Awards in the process.

The implementation of the Tiara9 system for five therapy professions in Leicestershire has reduced waiting times by up to 12 weeks and enabled improved information sharing between disciplines. These quantifiable healthcare benefits secured the project first place in the ‘Best use of e-health to deliver integrated care' category at this year's e-Health Innovation Awards.

Commenting on the project's achievements, the judges said: "Their (Charnwood and NW Leicestershire PCT's) implementation of Ethitec's Tiara system has improved communication between professionals when they are treating the same patient and transformed the appointments system to the point where, for example, the podiatry waiting list is now virtually zero."

Tiara9 combines an appointment booking system, treatment record and electronic patient record. It is the electronic management of appointments that has enabled the service to offer greater patient choice when it comes to the time and place of appointments. This has significantly reduced the number of ‘Did Not Attends', hence the fall in waiting lists.

The e-Health Innovation Awards are the latest to recognise the project's ability to deliver first class healthcare using an innovative IT solution. Last month the prestigious Government-backed Healthcare IT Effectiveness Awards awarded the project prizes in two separate categories.

Celebrating Tiara9's recent successes, Ethitec commercial director, Simon Taylor, concludes: "We spent a lot of time developing the Tiara9 system with the Leicestershire therapists to ensure it would accurately serve their workflow patterns. The proof that this has been an effective approach is evident in the high levels of user acceptance and corresponding impact on waiting times. We are now hoping that our success in these recent awards will start to make Connecting for Health stand up and take notice of the valuable contribution the system can make to handling patient care."

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