Minor Injury Units are staffed by nurses with extensive emergency training and experience. They usually treat quite a wide range of minor injuries including:

• broken bones (fractures) 
• sprains and strains
• minor bumps to the head
• cuts/grazes and lacerations  
• minor eye infections, foreign bodies & scratches
• minor burns and scalds 
• splinters, bites and stings (including human/animal bites)
• infected wounds  
• nose injuries.

These units require the same resource tracking solutions as Emergency Departments.

'Symphony' is one of the leading PC-based Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems; originally developed by Footman-Walker Associates, it is a flexible solution that can be tailored to deliver a computerised information system that addresses the needs of the A&E department and Hospital.  Over 10 million patients have been registered on Footman-Walker Accident and Emergency software.  The company has over 70 NHS computer installations in the UK, providing high volume, high security and high reliability. 

Symphony has been carefully designed to improve patient healthcare by providing clinicians and clerical staff with a comprehensive information access & retrieval IT solution. The system can operate either on a stand-alone basis or it can be integrated into your existing computer systems.

Key Benefits 

• Quick and easy access to patient information, enhancing patient care and facilitating clinical audit
• Electronic orders and results reporting
• User defined standardised discharge summaries for GPs, sent by e-mail, fax or post.

Ease of Use

The guiding principle used in designing the system has been ease of access to enter data, and to retrieve, view and use it.  Recognising that no two clinical practices work in exactly the same way, the system is highly 'configurable' - individuals and departments are able to design the way it works to fit with their working practices. Wherever possible, the basic design process has been to automatically offer information for selection when it might be needed, minimising the need for users to search and identify patients and data items that require updating.

Building on Experience.

Symphony was developed by Footman-walker Associates as a updated replacement for their popular AEII which was originally developed 18 years ago. Symphony has been designed to provide all the benefits of the AEII system and more. In 2005, as the market-leading provider of A&E computing solutions, Footman-Walker Associates was acquired by Ascribe plc, a group of companies focussed upon delivering improved  healthcare solutions. Over 10 million patients have been registered on Footman-Walker Accident and Emergency software.  The company has over 70 NHS computer installations in the UK, providing high volume, high security and high reliability.

Symphony Modules:

The Electronic Patient Record
Symphony provides an on-screen display of all the clinical data relating to each patient. This includes full identification of the patient and all records in connection with the patient's current and previous attendances. An on-screen audit of who recorded the information and when is also available so as to facilitate further investigation if necessary. The records collected, and the data with them, can be defined by the system manager so as to build up an EPR that is both pertinent and practical.

Clinical Audit and Research
How do you record, measure and interpret post-operative complications such as infection? Using Symphony you would define a data entry process that allowed you to flag complications, analyse the causes. The powerful e-AUDIT reporting tool within the system allows you to research on any combination of data held on the system in order to be able to identify outcomes and modify clinical practice as necessary.

Manage Clinical Risk
If the patient has an allergy or there is a clinical alert entry such as MRSA, Symphony provides an immediate on-screen warning. Special needs such as sight impairments are highlighted so that before you reach the patient, you are aware of any special care considerations. Should you wish to focus on a particular category of patient, such as children or the elderly, Symphony allows you to identify all such groups and prioritise them as necessary.

Improve Workplace Efficiency
Symphony enables you to monitor the efficiency of support services. How long are speciality medical teams taking to deal with referred patients? Easy-to-produce reports across each speciality provide the answer and will help with negotiations for improvements in service when desirable. View a list of patients that have been in your department over a certain length of time - then make the decisions needed to clear the backlog. Symphony is the ideal means of reducing workload, managing waiting times and improving patient care.

Rank Patients by Clinical Priority
Symphony is configured to allow you maximum control over the display of your case load. For instance, a click of the mouse will present a list of patients ranked by Clinical Priority allowing you to focus attention on the most urgent cases or review less urgent ones for satisfactory progress.

Performance Targets
No more surprises when your performance targets are announced. Whether it’s a 30 minute wait in Outpatients, a 4 hour wait in A+E or a 6 month limit on a waiting list, Symphony allows you to define the target maximum times between any two records on the system, and set off a warning if any patients approach these target times. With Symphony, you get to manage and control activity as it takes place, and are no longer limited to waiting for after-the-event reports to discover whether you have met your performance targets.

Symphony Handheld - All the benefits of Symphony - in the palm of your hand
Symphony Handheld provides all the information available on your PC - but on your handheld computer. Now you can view the full Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and update it at the bedside or wherever you happen to be. The full Symphony capability is in the palm of your hand!

• You don’t need to go off and find a computer
• You don’t need to wait to see the record
• You don’t even need to leave the patient

Improve efficiency
By the bedside, record an X-ray request for the patient on your Symphony Handheld. The request is immediately transmitted electronically to your Radiology department or printed off in X-ray. The task is in hand and the result awaited. It's as quick and easy as that.

Target resources where they are needed
As soon as you have ministered to the needs of one patient, your Symphony Handheld provides a display of all other patients, sorted according to your personal preference, allowing you to target resources where they are most needed.

Monitor progress
Amidst the bustle of your busy day, as you head for your next patient - having identified their current location on your Symphony Handheld - review the list of patients currently on the ward or in the department by arrival time, and note how each is progressing along the care pathway. Check the record of the patient you saw 20 minutes earlier and see if they are back from X-ray, or whether their pathology results have been received. Where necessary, add a note for the attention of the responsible clinician, or order a reassessment of a particularly concerning case.

Are you needed elsewhere?
Symphony allows you to see what's happening in any geographical location for which you are responsible. Whether it’s the patients waiting for you in A+E, or those you’ve sent for X-ray, Symphony Handheld gives you immediate, up to the minute access to each EPR. You either gain immediate comfort that all is well, or you recognise a potential hotspot and organise assistance.

What are the new junior doctors up to?
How do you check on your junior doctors, or the new Nurse Practitioner? Symphony Handheld gives you a real time display of all the patients under any one person’s care, allowing you to see what is wrong with them and what is being done for them. This display is immediately available to you wherever you are in the hospital.

Always and everywhere
With Symphony Handheld, you have access to all the information you need, wherever you are, to ensure that your department is operating efficiently and productively to provide the best possible care for your patients.

• An 'Access Point' connected to your existing network provides an EEE802.11b compliant wireless link for up to twenty Symphony Handheld computers. These operate on the 2.4GHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) band at 11Mb/s up to 300 metres of the Access Point.
• Frequency Hopping Multiple Access (FHMA) ensures that connections can be maintained at outer limits of signal strength through alternate, additional (closer) access points.