Other systems did not have as much functionality as PCS, or offer the same level of support that EMIS provides.

May 2004: Moira Park Surgery blaze a trail with EMIS in Scotland

Moira Park Surgery in Edinburgh has become the first practice in Scotland to move to EMIS PCS from a non-EMIS clinical system. It's a bold move to become a trailblazer, but one which practice manager, Sue Whitson, feels was well worthwhile.

Sue explains, "EMIS PCS was the best option. We assessed the alternatives, but found that other systems did not have as much functionality as PCS, or offer the same level of support that EMIS provides."

The practice has found EMIS's integrated Population Manager a useful tool in helping to meet the requirements of the new GMS contract. Population Manager contains 160 fully automated searches that provide quality and outcomes information in an easy to understand format. Sue commented: "It has made it easy for us to see where our old codes would not fit in with the requirements of the contract."

EMIS PCS has been developed for general practices in Scotland, to meet local and national initiatives. It is a fully accredited system for Scotland, fulfilling both RFA Scotland v1.0 and PARTNERS requirements. It includes a comprehensive consultation mode, easy to access decision support tools including Sign and Spice guidelines, and the EMIS Drug Database including the BNF. This is kept continually up to date - drug updates are sent weekly on average, and in an emergency drugs can be withdrawn from the system within two hours.

It's not just the software that swayed the decision for Moira Park to move to EMIS. Sue found that: "The installation team was extremely proficient, helpful and cheerful throughout, and tested things before they left to make sure they were working. The support and training has been uniformly excellent."

Moira Park Surgery is now one of 53 practices in Scotland using an EMIS Clinical System.

Sean Riddell, Deputy Managing Director at EMIS, said: "It was excellent news on hearing Moira Park's decision to move to EMIS bearing in mind the difficulty of selling against a 'free' GP system in Scotland. I'm sure that EMIS PCS will meet the needs of Moira Park and that more practices will have a clear business case to change their current GP systems to optimise both patient care and maximise quality indicator points."

Sue Whitson sums up: "I feel we made the right choice."