Ascribe HICSS has been designed to support the process of patient care and meet the needs of clinical governance and clinical research in secondary care.

A key strength of Ascribe HICSS is its ability to capture highly detailed clinical data as part of the routine day-to-day operation of the hospital - whilst being a highly sophisticated system, it is easy to use and highly intuitive to clinical staff.

Ascribe HICSS can be fully integrated with the hospital Patient Master Index (PMI), Patient Administration System (PAS), Pathology system and other systems (e.g. Oncology). This ensures that patient demographic and laboratory test data are available at the point of care and always consistent with the main hospital systems. A key advantage is that clinicians are not required to duplicate input and maintenance of these other critical data items.

Ascribe HICSS has been designed from the start as a true web system and all user interaction is through a web browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer). Clinical data are stored in a robust relational database (Oracle / SQLServer), and the system utilises strong security mechanisms as is appropriate for this type of system. Data interchange is made easy using XML/HL7 and state-of-the-art technologies such as SOAP, XML-Protocol and Sockets or older file-based methods.

The clinical knowledge for the system was originally acquired as a result of an NHS/Private-sector partnership between Scorpio and Southampton University Hospitals Trust, enhanced by relationships with other major NHS Trusts. The clinical systems are always based on national or society/professional datasets where such a dataset is available. Significant effort has gone into the system to ensure that it reinforces best practice protocols issued by the authorities (e.g. CHAI/NICE/NSFs).

Sample screens and reports are available upon request.

Current Ascribe HICSS Modules

Ascribe has developed a set of individual clinical modules, which can share captured patient data, if it is relevant (e.g. endoscopic colonoscopy procedure results are viewable in the colorectal cancer module).

Modules Supporting National Cancer Dataset
• Waiting Times Dataset Collection for all cancer types
• Breast Cancer
• Generic Cancer Module (Meets the requirements of the ISB core dataset for all aspects which are not specific to a particular type of cancer)
• Gynaecological Cancer
• Head & Neck cancer
• Lower GI (colorectal) Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• Upper GI cancer
• Urological Cancer

Current Modules

• Acute Coronary Syndrome (MINAP/AMI)
• Audiology
• Bronchoscopy (adult)
• Bronchoscopy (paediatric)
• Cardiac Intensive/High Care
• Cardiology (adult)
• Cardiac surgery (adult)
• Care noting
• Cataract surgery
• Cystoscopy
• Dermatology
• Dermatology - phototherapy
• Diabetics
• Dietetics
• Diabetic retinal screening
• Doppler ultrasound
• Echocardiography
• Endoscopy (adult)
• Eye-unit casualty
• Gastroenterology (including IBD)
• Gastroenterological procedures (H2 & Urea Breath Tests, Manometry)
• Generic Cancer Module (Meets the requirements of the ISB core dataset for all aspects which are not specific to a particular type of cancer)
• Haematology - thrombophyllia and Haemophyllia
• Hepatology
• Maternity - antenatal booking module
• Maternity - antenatal significant events module
• Maternity - end of pregnancy module
• Maternity - post-natal module
• Neonatal
• Neurology
• Neurophysiology
• Neurosurgery
• Nuclear medicine
• Obstetric anaesthetics
• Obstetric ultrasound
• Ophthalmic equipment issue and control
• Pain Clinic
• Renal failure including dialysis
• Respiratory medicine
• Rheumatology
• Stroke (and TIA)
• Surgery - General (all procedures fully OPCS coded)
• Vascular surgery