Member Article

NORTH EAST BUSINESS TARGETS GROWTH DELIVERING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CLARITY TO GPs

North East-based IT healthcare solutions provider, Clarity Informatics is looking to solidify its market leading position with the launch of new e-learning resources.

With over 85% market share for its Appraisal Toolkit for GPs, Newcastle-based Clarity Informatics is looking to solidify its market-leading position in the IT healthcare solutions sector with the launch of new e-learning resources for primary care doctors across the UK.

Based on clinical guidance authored by Clarity Informatics for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the new e-learning resources for doctors are the first on the market to be based on the nationally recognised best-practice guidance.

Set to be launched in September, the e-learning resources will be available as an upgrade to GPs using Clarity’s GP Appraisal Toolkit, developed in partnership with the Royal College of General Practitioners. Clarity Plus will include ten training modules at launch, covering topics as diverse as: Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and pulmonary embolism. A further ten modules will then be released on the Clarity Plus portal each month until over 300 of modules have been published. As with Clarity’s Appraisal Toolkit for GPs, users of Clarity Plus will also be able to logon via smartphones and tablets, making resources available ‘on the go’.

One of the first modules to be released will be made available free to all current users of Clarity’s GP Appraisal Toolkit. Developed in association with the charity Olivia’s Vision, the module aims to raise awareness of the condition, uveitis. Every year, an estimated 9,000 new case of uveitis are diagnosed in the UK, with uveitis now the third leading cause of avoidable blindness.

CEO of Clarity Informatics, Tim Sewart commented: “The success of our Appraisal Toolkit for GPs, which was launched in 2014 in partnership with the Royal College of General Practitioners has been a significant boost to Clarity’s growth in recent years and a driving force behind our becoming the leading IT solutions provider for the healthcare sector. With over 85% of GPs in the UK currently using Clarity’s Appraisal Toolkits, we’re always looking for new ways to engage our customers and continue to deliver innovative IT solutions for the healthcare industry that improve patient safety, save clinical time and are cost effective.”

As part of medical revalidation - the process by which doctors positively affirm to the General Medical Council (GMC) that they are up to date and fit to practice - all licensed doctors need to demonstrate their commitment to continuous professional development and participation in annual appraisal. However, recent studies have shown that doctors remain concerned about the balance of time spent on appraisals and revalidation against the perceived benefits for themselves and for their patients .

Sewart continued: “We know that when it comes to appraisal, it can be a challenge for GPs to keep track of and collate evidence of continuing professional development, whilst managing the demands of a clinical workload and a practice. Combining our knowledge of appraisal and revalidation requirements with our expertise as authors of the NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries service, we’re delighted to be able to offer GPs a convenient and efficient way to manage continuing professional development.

“Given the rigorous quality assurance which underpins the creation of our content, we also hope that the advice and recommendations within the modules can be relied upon as an effective mechanism to support the excellent care provided by GPs across the UK.”

Globally recognised, Clarity’s dedicated team of clinicians and researchers have over 20 years’ experience of providing clinical guidance and resources to medical practitioners working across the primary and secondary care sectors. Clarity Informatics is one of a small number of commercial enterprises to be accredited by NICE in the UK. It’s clinical guidance – Prodigy – designed to assist GPs, GP registers, nurses and pharmacists to treat common conditions and symptoms, forms the clinical content of NICE’s Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) service. Every month approximately 50% of the NHS clinical workforce rely on clinical information and guidance authored by Clarity Informatics.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Jones .