Testimonials

The tutor provided us with a clear insight into Fusion software, her knowledge of the product coupled with her professional training manner and friendly, open personality created an ideal learning environment

I thought the course content was very thorough and ours was an excellent tutor who had a wide knowledge of the subject. I found the course easy to follow and everything was explained thoroughly and in detail

I enjoyed the course which was very intense but the tutor was prepared to go over anything students weren't sure about, she was friendly and knowledgeable

Thank you for showing me how to use Fusion and make it work, I just hope I can remember it all

Course was very clear, easy to follow and helpful/useful

Our trainer was very approachable and made the course interesting and easy to follow. Excellent teaching style

Excellent content and excellent training style

Delivery and content excellent - a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Well done!

A very enjoyable course with a superb trainer

An excellent course and an excellent trainer - thanks!

Most enjoyable course, well planned and informative. Thank you

Formic supplies high speed data reports to Health Professionals from School Health Profiling to outside agencies, such as Age Concern. The system has been in constant use for 3 years, saving time, cost and improving overall efficiency. We are looking forward to implementing on-line surveys in the future.

Denise Routledge, Data Analyst, Knowledge Service Newcastle and North Tyneside PCTs

Our team manages clinical audits for the whole Trust and are typically handling up to 100 audits at any one time with the majority using the Formic system. Some audits require up to 2,000 pages of information scanning and capturing, for example the Healthcare Commission's Patient Surveys in which we use Formic to design the survey into an A3 double-sided booklet. We have five people designing forms and one that does the scanning as well as myself liasing with Formic support to ensure the projects run smoothly. We find that the modular software makes it easy to share jobs among the team. As a Formic user for over seven years, we don't need to be sold the benefits. You can create professional-looking proformas that collect the right information and the forms encourage people to complete them neatly. Formic processes the forms both quickly and accurately especially when using recommended supporting software i.e. computer spec and scanner. This means we can manage high volumes of work with relatively few staff and it helps free up more time for analysis and report writing.

Carl Walker, Clinical Audit, Standards & Effectiveness (CASE) Team University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Podiatry is most certainly the service for which we use Formic the most. We often audit 20 sets of records from 16 different clinics over the locality. We also use Formic to collect clinical data and carry out patient surveys - sometimes processing as many as 2,000 forms in one go. It would take days to manually input data on this scale and manual data entry is much more prone to mistakes. With Formic you get fast, accurate data collection. I can also produce reports infinitely faster than using Excel on its own because of the speed with which Formic does the analysis. Following a visit to Leicestershire PCAG, we are now looking to adapt our existing GPAQ form to a Formic equivalent so the completed forms can be downloaded to a centralised database.

Carol Riggall, Clinical Governance Co-ordinator Southport & Formby NHS Trust

With the Formic system we can design high quality questionnaires that look professional and, more importantly, help us capture the right sort of information. The big plus for clinical audit projects is the ability to automatically scan forms directly into the database. We also recently undertook a European transport survey in which 7,500 forms were distributed to patients, staff and the public – if we had to do it manually, we would have been there forever. The number of questionnaires we handle is increasing so we are looking forward to putting Formic e-Forms on our Internet site, for all our projects including patient and staff satisfaction surveys. Formic offer an excellent on-site training programme which we found to be very convenient, welltaught and immensely beneficial.

Sandy Chivers, Governance Support Unit Manager Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust

Manually inputting the data from 50 patient surveys took eight hours. In the re-audit we used Formic and this time it took just one hour to scan and validate them.

Sheila Daly, Clinical Audit Facilitator Central Manchester & Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust

We have been using Formic since May 2000. We use it for a number of ongoing projects including building an anaesthetic audit database and as a surveillance tool for the Infection Control Department as well as any appropriate ad-hoc clinical audit projects. Once the forms have been scanned, the results are imported into an Access database for analysis and reporting. Formic is best suited to volume forms processing; it saves a lot of time over manual inputting.

Stephen Mangan, Clinical Audit Systems Support Officer Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust

At the Conwy & Denbighshire Trust's Clinical Audit Department we view the Formic system as the fourth member of our team! Not only are we able to take on more projects due to the faster turn-around time, but we are also able to manage larger projects, including one with 2,000 returns for the BBC. Having the system means that we are able to think about different types of projects, such as collecting prevalence data and patient scoring surveys, which was difficult and inaccurate previously. Finally, the discipline of designing the forms means that we are able to question auditors on the exact data collection they require from their project, which is obviously the difference between a well-focused audit and data collection for it's own sake.

Debbie Doig-Evans, Modernisation Team Conwy & Denbighshire NHS Trust

We’ve been using Formic for two and a half years, mainly for patient records, satisfaction surveys and for capturing clinical information. We recently upgraded to Formic Fusion and invested in two days user training. Undoubtedly the biggest benefit is the speed of processing versus manual entry and ease of analysis – with Formic you scan the data straight into the database. The design module allows us to create the form while sitting with the clinician – it’s easy to make amendments there and then.

Jane Cole, Lead Clinical Audit & Effectiveness Co-ordinator Kings Lynn & Wisbech Hospitals NHS Trust

In the last 12 months we have processed some 50,000 questionnaires using Formic and will scan more next year. These include questionnaires for community record keeping, clinical governance and child protection. Our team is also responsible for coordinating and supporting GPAQ for 700 GPs across 184 practices in the county. This project alone generates 38,000 4-page surveys that are scanned and processed using the Formic system, working everyday from 9:00am to 6:00pm – and this is even possible with our old scanner. It’s quicker and much more accurate than manually entering the data into Excel. Despite some initial reservations, Formic has managed very well and does what we want it to. It’s helped facilitate links with the GPs and I have confidence in the accuracy of the results because none of the GPs has ever queried the reports we give them or the quality of the underlying data.

Stephen Ashmore, PCAG Manager Leicestershire Primary Care Audit Group

The real benefit of the Fusion system is that it provides an “all in one” datacapture system for ABC. It contains all you need to design, print, scan activity cards and validate the data. This year we successfully processed 98.6% of all cards issued, which is quite a remarkable feat.

IAN FLEMING, PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT UNIT, HUMBERSIDE POLICE

The primary benefit of the first stage is that the results checking process, which happens in front of the student, is removed.

Sue Wiliams, Vice Principal , Finance & Systems, Orpington Colege

We provide a time critical service. For each incident we respond to we have to complete a Patient Report Form. Each day we generate on average 2,000 such forms. The ability for us to rapidly consolidate and analyse this information is key. Utilising the Fusion solution we can now capture and process this data in a timely manner. We are now able to monitor the performance levels of our paramedics, identify areas for skills development and provide overall improvement in our service.

BRIAN MCNEILL, HEAD OF TRAINING AND QUALITY ASSURANCE, NORTHERN IRELAND AMBULANCE SERVICE

Previously the data recorded on the Patient Report Form was manually input. This arrangement was proving unsatisfactory. Retrieving the information was labour intensive, poor quality and of limited use. In addition too much time was elapsing between the form being completed and when it was processed. It was proving very difficult to generate meaningful and timely reports. Also, as a consequence of the political situation in Northern Ireland, Patient Report Forms are often submitted as evidence in court cases. Our inability to access and retrieve forms easily from earlier incidents was becoming a serious issue.

BRIAN MCNEILL

ABC is a recognised management tool that has enabled Humberside police officers to spend more time on front-line policing and less on unproductive tasks, such as paperwork. Our over-riding objective is to achieve higher detection rates and that has been made possible because senior commanders are now becoming very skilled resource managers.

HAYLEY IBBERTSON, PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT UNIT, HUMBERSIDE POLICE

With the Fusion solution we comply with regulations that govern the monitoring of paramedic skills. This provides a mechanism for identifying areas for their further development and training. In Northern Ireland, we can now take part in national proposals to develop the skill set and expand the range of drugs administered by the ambulance crews. This has had a very positive impact on our staff and the level of service we provide.

BRIAN MCNEILL

Fusion supplies high speed data reports to Health Professionals from School Health. Profiling to outside agencies, such as Age Concern. The system has been in constant use for 3 years; saving time, cost and improving overall efficiency. We are looking forward to implementing on-line surveysin the future. DENISE ROUTLEDGE, DATA ANALYST, KNOWLEDGE SERVICE, NEWCASTLE AND NORTH TYNESIDE PCTS

I would not be able to get through the same amount of work without Fusion. ANNE FISH, CLINICAL AUDIT FACILITATOR, FRIMLEY PARK HOSPITAL NHS TRUST

Having used Formic solutions for many years we have been able to experience the benefits of their data capture technology first hand. We have always appreciated their provision of very helpful customer service and support. JANET GATES, CLINICAL AUDIT MANAGER, EPSOM & ST HELIER NHS TRUST

We needed to speed up the process from data collection to analysis allowing our team to perform more effectively. JANET GATES, CLINICAL AUDIT MANAGER, EPSOM & ST HELIER NHS TRUST

Just thought that I’d drop you a line to say a big thank you for the help that I received from Formic last week. Your technician definitely knew his subject - he was clear and concise, explaining everything as we went along and exceeded his remit in helping me out. Once again, well done and thank you. JOHN OSBORNE, ACADEMIC PLANNER, EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF SURREY