Cambric Systems has announced that NHS Forth Valley has successfully integrated RCPCH GrowthAPI with its Morse mobile electronic patient record (EPR) system.
The new software will help save clinical time, provide improved information and support earlier access to care for children and families.
Dr Sabine Grosser is Consultant Paediatrician at NHS Forth Valley.
The clinician said: “This is an exciting and valuable addition to our work.
“It allows us to see measurements taken in all different locations, providing a joined up service with other health professionals.
“Paediatricians are seeing the benefits of being able to quickly and accurately plot children who are premature, have Down’s or Turner’s Syndrome on their appropriate charts.”
Growth is one of the most sensitive measures of health in children. Healthy children, grow normally, but what does normal look like?
Work to answer this question was carried out by child health experts at RCPCH in the 1960s and 1970s and this led to the publication of the paper charts in the 1980s, found in every child’s ‘Red Book’, now used every day by parents and professionals across the UK.
In 2021, RCPCH moved to digitalise this capability.
The calculations that go into producing the growth ‘centile’ lines are perhaps surprisingly complex to many not familiar with their intricacies, so developing the software needed lots of clinical, statistical and data expertise.
The RCPCH clinical and developer team then launched their charts as an API – a technical approach that allows electronic health records from across GP surgeries to specialist hospitals, to access the calculations automatically, and benefit from the accuracy of the RCPCH work.
Cambric has worked closely with the Royal College and NHS Forth Valley to integrate the API which allows the Morse EPR to access this world-leading child growth calculation technology.
This means that clinicians can see instantly and at a glance when measuring children during standard health reviews if they are within safe parameters, or if the child should be referred for specialist assessment.
As well as saving time, this gives peace of mind to clinicians and parents alike that any growth anomalies that could indicate underlying health issues will be identified early.
Dr Simon Chapman is Consultant in Paediatric Endocrinology, King’s College Hospital, London, and an RCPCH development lead.
He said: “Cambric has been one of the first large suppliers to the NHS in Scotland to integrate the RCPCH GrowthAPI into their systems, bring accurate growth monitoring to clinicians and families across Scotland.”
Garry Sherriff, MD at Cambric, added: “At Cambric we pride ourselves in building strong relationships with organisations throughout the healthcare ecosystem.
“We are delighted to have completed this project for NHS Forth Valley with the RCPCH which will result in better solutions for frontline clinicians, and ultimately supports better patient care provision.”
