Document management specialists Icon UK, in partnership with Bramble Hub, have secured a minimum two-year contract with Bristol & Weston NHS Purchasing Consortium (BWPC) to provide a digital document signing solution. The solution is to be rolled out to two NHS trusts: North Bristol NHS Trust and University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust. Together the two trusts employ over 20,000 people and – via multiple sites - provide over 100 clinical services to a large area including Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

The new eSigning solution will initially be used by an estimated 140 people across the two trusts, and will allow for the electronic signature of documents to move away from paper-based processes and increase efficiencies. The solution will be used to sign tens of thousands of documents by multiple signatories for each, who may be located across the entire combined Trusts area or beyond in the case of external parties.

The requirement included the following solution features:

  • Multiple document types per signing
  • Potential to support the signing of documents which may be required in legal proceedings
  • Ability to allow recipients/signers to add comments or refer envelopes back to the originator or previous recipient if they have questions, corrections, or re-signing is required
  • Solution allows originators to access real-time tracking information on envelopes’ progress in the workflow
  • Solution allows originator to receive notification once the envelope is fully signed
  • A full audit trail of each envelope workflow, including timestamps and IP address of signatories when documents are viewed, edited and signed

The solution will also provide high levels of document security and GDPR-compliant privacy protection. Document signing can be easily upgraded to full Qualified Electronic Signing, should that be needed, using the same back-end platform.

The contract was awarded under the G-Cloud 12 framework.

Chris Jones, Managing Director of Icon UK said: “We are pleased that the superior functionality available through our platform has been recognized by the Trusts. It replaces both paper processes and basic e-Signing methods with a unified consistent eSigning workflow, removing the dependencies on paper and travel, now unlocking huge savings. Moreover, it enables these NHS users to transact at digital speed, enabling responsiveness and convenience for all”.

This builds on Icon’s pedigree in the Public Sector and Clinical Trials eSigning domains. For further information about eSigning, see the recent Bramble Hub interview with Chris Jones.