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Watchdog meeting Oct 14th 2021 notes

QOF and other searches hanging

They are aware. We asked if their server resources are inadequate to deal with the volume and what they intend to do. Some comms expected from EMIS shortly.

GP2GP transfers

At times unreliable. They have posted some instructions for checking on EMIS Now – there is a 7 day window to correct failed transfers and staff need to keep a log and check for new registrations without GP2GP. Reminder that, due to separate contracts, no GP2GP transfers take place between the devolved nations. Work is going on to provide similar functionality within those devolved nations – Wales uses MESH and cannot currently handle large messages – work ongoing to fix this, NI will use similar and Scotland another system. This, of course is mad, is purely political and represents a safety issue. We asked if EMIS could come up with a ‘get around’, perhaps using the data migration process used when a practice changes systems or practices merge. We hope to hear back.

Better release news

At times unreliable due to quickly changing release programme- testing frequently throws up unexpected issues. EMIS say they will try to be more accurate and responsive in the comms they issue.

Appointment book refresh problems

This has been requiring a manual refresh of the appointment book to show changes. It has been improved and is due to be fixed for same organisation remote working in next release (9.13.10) and for appointments by external services such in a later release.

EMIS Now support calls

There have been frequent calls for improvement to the responsiveness of the support lines, the online chat function and there have been many changes and promises of more. The premature closure of support calls (especially over weekends and leave periods) has improved. Users often feel their calls are not understood or dealt with well. There is a new manager, James Waterfall and we hope to see improvements.

KD errors

We discussed the value of these; for instance, what is the purpose of a ‘Known Defect’ if we don’t know how it is being dealt with and likely timescales, especially when it has been in existence for years. Often the text is meaningless for end users or doesn’t seem to relate to their problem. Get arounds are often impractical. It seems to many users to be a watse of time reporting them. The internal support system does highlight frequent problems to EMIS, whether reported or not and that information is regualrly fed back to developers for fixes to be looked into. Following a lot of work by EMIS recently, the reporting system has shown a “46% decrease in errors” in recent months (more precise data unknown). We asked to have a suite of performance metrics reported to us at each meeting.

Resource Publisher

This has long been a very faulty and disruptive, yet much needed, module. Finally, we are told, a solution is in sight. In order to stop Resource Publisher hogging resources from the main EMIS Web functionality, slowing it down and crashing it (though this has improved), it is being taken off the main EMIS Web data base and given its own SQL database, so it will run independently. This is currently on test and should be rolled out imminently in 9.13.10 with domains being changed over rapidly (within a day or two) after that.

EMIS Web becomes a tiny window top left screen and has to be restarted

This has been happening from time to time with external systems such as Docman. A known error and we are asking for more detailed feedback on this and solution.

We thank Adam Stead at EMIS for being a helpful and frank contact and managing our meetings. He has moved to product development and is handing Watchdog to someone from the support team.

If you want us to raise any issues in our regular monthly Watchdog meeting

We are happy to take forward any user issues that have first been through the usual EMIS support channels. If you feel you are not getting the matter resolved or if you feel it is a serious safety issue or a more general problem that continues to affect the smooth operation of the system, we’ll be pleased to discuss with EMIS. We endeavour to feed back but sometimes are prevented from doing so by issues of commercial or contractual sensitivity.  

Please email the NUG office if you’d like any matters discussed. It is helpful if you can reference the response you have had from support. https://www.emisnug.org.uk/contact

 

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