Proteo has helped the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) to develop a Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) database which has the potential across the UK to improve the treatment of bipolar disorder sufferers taking lithium.

The NSFT’s pharmacy department have been using a therapeutic drug monitoring system, known as the ‘TDM database’, on a local basis since 2002. In December 2009 the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) issued a set of recommendations and criteria which all GPs and NHS Trusts have to adhere to when prescribing Lithium in order to deliver safe and effective patient care. Bipolar disorder is more commonly known as manic depression.

The NSFT’s TDM database already met these recommendations and with the help of Proteo the system is now ready to be rolled-out across the UK.  The Trust is already in conversation with three other UK healthcare trusts looking to implement a similar Lithium monitoring system.

With Proteo already supplying technical support for the original application they were approached by the Trust to advise them on whether the system could be redesigned and adapted so that it could be licensed to other healthcare trusts.

Having completed an initial project to establish the viability of a new application which could be used by other trusts and could also potentially generate some extra revenue for the NSFT, Proteo were contracted to take the original system and transform it into an application which could be used by other Trusts around the UK. Working closely with Tim Anderson, Clinical Pharmacist of the NSFT, Proteo has just completed the build and delivered the new, re-engineered system to the Trust’s Pharmacy department

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The Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) database helps care workers to more closely monitor and manage the care of patients taking Lithium, a powerful drug used in the management of bipolar disorder. The system enables the people most closely involved with the patient to have a complete contact record which includes pharmacy supplies, test results, appointments, letters and patient notes with the information held on a secure database. Information on each patient is accessible remotely by GPs, care workers and pharmacy staff. The system, however, is designed to only allow them access to the records of individuals in their care rather than the records of everyone on the Lithium programme.

Professor Stephen Bazire, Chief Pharmacist of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust said: “When the National Patient Safety Audit (NPSA) looked at how patients on Lithium were being treated it found that in some areas patient safety was being put at risk because of a lack of proper monitoring. We were already running our own TDM database for patients taking Lithium which already exceeded the criteria demanded by the new NPSA guidelines and it became clear that other Trusts could use a system much like ours to improve and even extend their Lithium programmes.

“Lithium is a very effective drug for the treatment of bipolar disorder. However, some GPs and Psychiatrists are reluctant to prescribe it because it is essential that the treatment is properly monitored. By working with Proteo to make our TDM database available to other healthcare trusts I hope that more patients who could benefit from this treatment are given the opportunity to use Lithium to improve their day to day lives.”

Professor Bazire added: “It has been great to work with Proteo on this project. They have shown great professionalism and expertise and by working closely with Tim Anderson from the Trust they have delivered the database we needed, on time, which can now be used to benefit patients in other parts of the country.”

Duncan Cardwell, Proteo’s Managing Director commented: “You don’t often get the opportunity to work on a project which genuinely has the potential to really improve people’s lives. This application for the NSFT could do just that for people battling with bipolar disorder and I’m proud of the role Proteo have played in making that possible.”

 Norwich-based technology solutions provider Proteo has developed a state-of-the-art Apple iPad application to transform Anglian Home Improvements’ sales process for solar panel installations.

Norfolk haulier signs new three year deal and helps design new software

Leading independent haulage company, Jack Richards & Sons, has signed a new three-year contract with Proteo for its transport management systems Haulier Enterprise and FleetMetrik and played a key role in helping to develop unique software for the haulage market.

Proteo has worked with the firm to help develop and refine the latest version of the Haulier Enterprise ‘order to invoice’ system (version 3.10) which is now available to other clients. 

Haulier Enterprise is a transport management system designed for mid to large-size haulage businesses.  It manages every aspect of contract logistics from allowing customers to directly enter orders on to the system to tracking the vehicle and generating the paperwork, helping hauliers to reduce costs and work more efficiently. 

Haulier Enterprise’s unique feature is its integration with Proteo’s vehicle telematics system – FleetMetrik – which allows the real-time vehicle location to be tracked and messages from vehicles to automatically drive workflow in the back office.   Having vehicle location history data in the same place as order information also supports a new level of accuracy in analysis and reporting.

Norwich-based P1 Technology Partners has rebranded to Proteo.  The decision to rebrand follows a shift in focus, an increase in the breadth of products and services the company offers and a desire to differentiate itself from the general IT market.

Duncan Cardwell, Proteo’s Managing Director, explained: “P1 was established in 2003 as an IT services and solutions company and grew quickly.  We installed and managed systems on behalf of our clients and developed custom software applications, gaining what was then the coveted Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Status in 2005 – in fact Microsoft had become almost synonymous with P1.

“Over time our focus has shifted in a number of ways.  Firstly we tend to get involved much earlier in the process these days and clients will engage us to “solve the business problem” as much as “design and deliver the technology solution”.  Secondly Microsoft, although still important, is not so central and these days we’re as likely to be designing solutions around Amazon, Google or Apple platforms.  Finally we’re selling a product called Fleet Metrik which amongst other things improves fuel consumption in commercial vehicles and is more of a fleet solution, than an IT solution.

“While P1 was a very successful company we felt the brand didn’t reflect the broader range of products and services we were now able to offer or more importantly our growing reputation for truly creative problem-solving.” 

The new name ‘Proteo’ is derived from the Greek sea God Proteus who could ‘transform’ and the adjective ‘protean’ meaning flexible, versatile, adaptable.

Proteo is based in Norwich and employs 23 staff.  Turnover for the current financial year is anticipated to be £2m.

Proteo is Norfolk’s only Amazon Web Services Solution Provider and Google Applications Authorised Reseller.  Proteo is also a Microsoft Cloud Power Partner and member of the Apple iOS Developer Programme.

Datalink have renewed their ServerGuard contract for a second year. Serverguard provides Datalink with third-line support, dealing primarily with specific issues and maintainence tasks relating to their IT servers and subsystems.

Datalink had onsite IT people working and actively supporting their group users but needed a third-line expertise to call upon at times when IT and technology became tricky.

We work with them proactively, monitoring and maintaining their onsite servers so that we can minimise the potential for issues and downtime that may distrupt computer usage.

The ServerGuard service is specifically designed to support servers.

Fagan & Whalley have renewed with a new three-year contract to use our Orchestrator Haulier Enterprise software.

We have worked with them to add in an off-site Disaster Recovery platform which will provide them with seamless business continuity for their traffic planning operations.

Orchestrator Haulier Enterprise provides Fagan & Whalley with a complete software suite that allows them to manage their operation in the most proficient way - safeguarding their bottom line in times when economic factors are hitting the haulage industry hard.

Orchestrator Haulier Enterprise is used by transport firms to manage fleet-wide operations.

Wisbech Roadways have renewed with a brand new deal to use the Orchestrator Consortia Enterprise software for the next three years.

They have also extended their Netguard IT support agreement, making Proteo their preferred technology services provider for IT services.

Wisbech Roadways is a transport consortium with a large operations depot acting as a logistics hub for the three individual haulage companies which make up Wisbech Roadways.

Transport and Haulage technology is very specific and working with Proteo ensures that they benefit from the expertise of a logistics integrator, not only with the software that they use, but also with the user support that Proteo provides via an exclusive Orchestrator helpdesk.

Orchestrator Consortia Enterprise is an all-encompassing management software designed specifically for transport consortia.

EH Nicholls has renewed their Haulier Enterprise agreement with Proteo, making the Orchestrator software their preferred software for managing fleet logistics across the company. 

They have opted for a new, hosted version of the software, which means they can integrate with another one of Proteos software offerings - Orchestrator Fleet Metrik.

Combining with Fleet Metrik, they now have even tighter control of the management of vehicle and driver performance in their daily operations.

Orchestrator Haulier Enterprise and Fleet Metrik  are designed to work as stand-alone or working, integrated parts of the Orchestrator Universe.

JS Hay have extended their NetGuard contract for a second year. After experiencing growth, they decided to work with IT Managed Services provided and entered into an agreement with Proteo last year. After a first year of proficient IT support, JS Hay have extended their agreement for another year so their technology-using workforce can stay happy and productive.

They have a lot of mobile workers that operate technology away from their offices and it is vital that their systems and technology remain working and available at all times.

Working with Proteo, we are able to guarantee them uptime by the very nature that the IT support we provide them with is reactive and ensures that the technology remains robust.

Proteo NetGuard is perfect for companies looking to uprate their technology and systems support.

River Cottage and Proteo have teamed up on the installation of a brand new hybrid server system that makes the best use of new Cloud Computing technology and on-site server technologies.

This has enabled the team to become more efficient in the way that they tranfer data while mobile working. They have synchronised mobile activity effectively with the technologies and systems at their remote rural location. 

River Cottage is a TV production company that uses non-standard technology in challenging environments. 

After seeing an increase in the amount of international support required by clients that have been won during the first quarter of this year, we have decided to extend our Managed Services Support to 24-hour worldwide coverage.

We have been able to do this by creating a partnership with Amundson & Amundson, a New Zealand based front-line IT support company.

After reviewing many companies in various locations around the world, we opted for Amundson & Amundson because we needed to work with a partner that could provide an autonomous service and offer the same level of customer focus as ourselves.

The NZST time zone completely covers our out-of-office periods and, whilst we still have multiple engineers on-call, this extra level of available resource means we have a lot of people power to support our increasing numbers of international clients.

Our first clients to sign-up to the international services are Go Ape, who have been expanding across the USA, and Ballet Makers who have operatives working as far away as China.

All our Managed Services now come with the option of international 24-hour cover.

We have a great range of Managed Services options to suit businesses of all sizes.

The Proteo Managed Services team has recently taken on a new Managed Services Client - California based Lighthouse.

We are helping Lighthouse support one of their client's European offices, providing our Netguard service while the guys at Lighthouse sleep.

Established Haulage client, Jack Richards, has just signed up to a new three-year Managed Services contract.

Jack Richards is part of the large haulage consortium, Wisbech Roadways, which also uses Proteo for its IT Support Services.

Proteo continues its partnership with non-profit organisation, Anglia Community Leisure, the operator of five sports & leisure sites in the Thetford area. A charitable organisation limited by guarantee, they raise money and re-invest profits back into their facilities, benefitting the local communities they service.

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