The LPFA  was established in 1989 and is one of the UK's largest administering authorities of the Local Government Pension Scheme with a Fund membership of 73,000, including over 220 employing authorities and assets of over £2.7 billion (at September 2003). LPFA also operates agency administration contracts covering over 120,000 scheme members.

Following a competitive tendering process and rigorous supplier evaluation, the contract for the provision of the LPFA's very varied archiving services was awarded in the Autumn of 2002 to HSIM.

HSIM provided the vital link in processing the client information for input into the complex systems of the LPFA.  Adopting its usual partnership approach, HSIM appointed Scanning Services Director, Chris Booth as the Project Manager to liaise with LPFA staff. A schedule of collections was agreed which would provide a weekly turnaround of vital data, with approximately 35,000 images per collection.

In order to fulfil the needs of its various clients the LPFA already had a number of systems in operation including, Heywood’s AXIS pension software, FiSH from the Azur Group and some older microfilm systems.  All the systems were interconnected by the LPFA’s  PROWS (Pension Record of Work System) which was developed by their in-house software. 

To meet with the requirements of the LPFA's complex systems,HSIM utilises barcode technology to ensure that all the documents are correctly indexed. Using the same methodology, the LPFA track each document that has been sent for scanning via barcode recognition, to satisfy audit requirements and to ensure that 100% of documentation sent is returned as scanned electronic images.

Once scanned and indexed, documents are output to CD-ROM as separate client organisations in a FiSH IPT format for easy importation into the LPFA’s document management system. Following scanning, the hard copy documents are stored in secure storage areas by HSIM until their retention period has passed.

HSIM also provides an update and storage service for the LPFA microfilm clients.  In excess of quarter of a million microfiche are stored at HSIM premises in secure areas in fire-proof safes and are updated on a regular basis.  A service is provided whereby client information is retrieved from the stored microfilm and returned to the LPFA either via fax or e-mailed image, with a duplicate copy fiche being supplied when required.

With extensive experience in NHS projects involving both microfilm and scanned images, Hugh Symons Information Management was able to advise on a seamless transition from microfilm to electronic record management.  GOSH chose to use CDView, the viewing and retrieval software developed by Hugh Symons over the past decade and the Kodak 2400DSV microfilm scanner/printer which facilitates the conversion of existing microfilmed records easily on demand for producing scanned images from the existing legacy microfilm.

In the first year of the project Hugh Symons Information Management processed over 90,000 medical records files (5.5 million images) for GOSH and the partnership continues to strengthen between the two organisations as more departments have opted to use CDView as their main method of document archiving and retrieval.

Visit our NHS dedicated website http://www.nhsdocumentscanning.co.uk

In 2003 Hampshire Council Council Pension's Department made the decision to move from a paper based system to a networked electronic document management system.  As a result of this technology change, the department had the need to back-scan all of their legacy pension documentation to provide a complete record for everyday use.

As part of their evaluation process senior personnel from Hampshire County Council visited the document scanning suppliers who had been short-listed. 

In addition to the successful visit to HSIM’s premises, Hampshire County Council’s pensions team was also influenced by the extensive experience HSIM have in handling large public sector contracts, in particular with clients such as London Pension Fund Authority (also a Heywood Ltd software user) and over 80 Local Authorities

Council staff logged each file which was being sent off site for scanning and HSIM was able to utilise this information to barcode all the files. As the files were scanned using the latest high volume Kodak i800 scanners to produce TIFF images the barcodes were read automatically. This virtually eliminated errors, and had the added benefit of presenting the electronic images back with an identical structure to the data held on the Council’s computers. The result was accurate data that could be processed efficiently and quickly as a direct by-product of the auditing process. 

The scanned images together with their associated index data were written to electronic media and then migrated into the existing pensions system using the import format stipulated by Heywoods.  In addition HSIM also provided the same information, at no additional cost, on CDs in their CDView retrieval/viewing software.

For more information on Hampshire County Council - click here

http://www.hants.gov.uk/

In early 2000 Hugh Symons Information Management was awarded the contract to provide a full scanning bureau service to the Trust. The award was based not only on their proven track record of over 25 years within the NHS, but also on their “willingness to provide solutions to problems”

Another major factor influencing the Trust’s decision to appoint Hugh Symons as their scanning services provider was the image viewing/retrieval software, CDView offered by Hugh Symons. As the project progressed into the second phase more departments began using CDView as their principal means of record retrieval. Trust staff found the flexibility offered by CDView of great benefit in handling the differing needs and indexing requirements of the various departments. Lida Brambles, Medical Records Manager comments on CDView:

"We have found it to be accessible to the varying levels of computer literacy. This has meant that staff feel more confident in using a computer for work that would previously have been paper base"

Quality issues were high on the list of priorities for Calderdale, Hugh Symons Information Management has been accredited to ISO since 1993. Lida Brambles comments on the level of service received:

“The project team has laid down strict guidelines that monitor the quality and authenticity of documents once archived. We have regular quality control reports that are generated and any issues are acted upon. However in Hugh Symons Information Management we have a contractor that shares our belief in high quality control standards. We have found the legibility of images to be clear and concise”

Visit our NHS dedicated website http://www.nhsdocumentscanning.co.uk