UK Software’s TranSearch® system has not only reduced the resources needed to provide vital information for the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) but it has also appreciably increased the speed with which that information is retrieved. Installed at the GMC at the end of 2004, the system, which deals with the live file management of paper files, boxes, magnetic media and so on, from creation to final archive storage and destruction, is helping to keep this Regulator’s administration costs in check and also provide a faster service and better value for money for its customers.

According to Paul Maxwell, the GMC’s Records Manager:

Having decided that we needed to improve the efficiency of our paper-based records management, the GMC embarked on a review process – not least to see what systems existed that could help it meet its objectives. Essentially, we looked for a software-based solution that would remove our increasing administrative overheads. We wanted a solution where GMC staff could search for the information that they needed for themselves.

The GMC employs some 500 staff, who are involved in either the registration of doctors or the ‘fitness to practice process’, which involves the investigation of complaints against doctors. Most of these people are based at the GMC’s Manchester or London offices.

The demands that are being made on the information we hold – as a consequence of the world we live in today – would have put enormous pressure on the traditional, manual system that we used to operate. TranSearch’s online process enables any of our staff to search for information about a particular doctor and then request the relevant information in the form of physical files. In the past, the whole process would have taken longer and involved more resources because several members of our staff would have been involved in requesting and providing the necessary information. Now, the member of staff who requires the information can get it, using TranSearch.

Web 'wrap around'

UK Software not only provided the GMC with the TranSearch system but its technical staff worked with the GMC to provide web-based functionality for the system including web pages that ‘wrap around’ the system, providing a user-friendly interface.

Maxwell commented:

We feel that TranSearch is working very well and we’ve been delighted with the support and commitment we’ve received from UK Software staff.

The TranSearch system has not only reduced the resources needed to provide the information that we need but it has also appreciably increased the speed with which that information is retrieved.

The TranSearch system interfaces well with the system that is provided by the organisation which stores the GMC’s files. Requests for information are transferred between the systems electronically – and this speeds up the supply of the relevant files.

Indeed, the TranSearch system now allows us to track the progress of any enquiry and file. So we can see the status of any request at any time – and know the times and dates of any and every delivery and collection of files.

“We are delighted to be working with the GMC in this way – to help it in its vital role of protecting patients,” commented UK Software’s CEO, John Messeter.

“And, while we’re happy to link our software with any Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRM) system – including the one used by the GMC - we don’t want to be restricted, nor do we want to be regarded as being ‘biased’ to one specific EDRM system. Consequently, our Clients are not tied to any one third party archivist – because TranSearch can interface with any third party archivist system.”