Member Article

Electronic patient record specialists expand and create new jobs in Sheffield

A surgical record software firm is expanding into Sheffield after being stationed in Glasgow for over 20 years.

Informatics Clinical Information Systems (CIS) has developed software for “safer, quicker and more effective care of patients” before, during and after operations.

The software has been designed with the help of anaesthetists, nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Operating in Glasgow since 1991, Informatics CIS has created a second base in the heart of Sheffield’s digital industries cluster, at The Workstation, Paternoster Row, and has already started creating new jobs.

The company’s growth is being supported by Creative Sheffield - a partner in the South Yorkshire Sector Growth Enhancement Programme (SYSGEP).

Creative Sheffield is Sheffield City Council’s economic development function, which is committed to boosting business growth in the city.

It is funded by Sheffield City Council and is a partner in the South Yorkshire Sector Growth Enhancement Programme (SYSGEP) that is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Yorkshire and The Humber ERDF Programme 2007-13.

As well as helping Informatics CIS to find premises and recruit, Creative Sheffield has put the company in touch with academic, clinical and business networks in the city, and assisted with identifying funding opportunities.

Informatics CIS’s managing director, Tom Hurrell, said: “Sheffield is a centre of excellence in the healthcare technology sector and has a general creative buzz.

“Our decision has been validated as, within just a few months, the city is proving to be just perfect for us. The support we’ve had through Creative Sheffield has been fantastic in helping us to set up here – including finding premises, hiring new talent and introducing us to the universities and professional networks in the city and region”.

Informatics CIS has developed its Synopsis product for use in two areas - preoperative assessment, and anaesthesia and theatres. It replaces the paper-based systems most hospitals rely on.

The software is already in use at a hospital in Holland and will start to be introduced into seven NHS trusts around the UK over the next few months.

Informatics CIS has benefited from working closely with Sheffield Hallam University. The university’s Cultural, Creative and Computing Research Institute provides research expertise in the areas of interaction design and health technologies.

This collaboration has generated new lines of business for the company and strengthened its strategic planning. In the future it is hoped that Informatics CIS will also benefit from the university’s Innovation Futures scheme which enables the university to help companies innovate.

Informatics CIS’s new business coordinator Sara Morton was also recruited with the support of Creative Sheffield. The company expects to appoint further new staff as it grows.

Creative Sheffield’s sector growth manager for healthcare technologies, Philippa Hedley-Takhar, said: “We’re delighted Informatics CIS has expanded into Sheffield. The city offers an environment which fosters innovation and creativity and is already home to established clusters of digital and healthcare technology industries.

“Companies like Informatics CIS are benefitting from the world-class expertise here to enable them to create healthcare solutions to meet patient needs, enabling the NHS to improve patient care and reduce costs.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .