A WORCESTERSHIRE hospital trust has introduced a new electronic patient record system to enable staff to track patients’ progress more efficiently.
Sunrise Electronic Patient Records (EPR) has been rolled out at Worcestershire Royal, Alexandra Hospital and Kidderminster Treatment Centre meaning patient information will be available electronically, on demand, at any of the sites.
The new system will continue to update over the next two years and once complete should improve the way hospitals admit, treat and discharge patients.
Following concerns from patients about having to give the same information to different members of staff several times or undergo repeated tests, the trust hopes the new electronic systems will alleviate miscommunication between staff and locations.
The new EPR should reduce time spent managing paper records, speeding up diagnosis and treatment whilst reducing risk and improving patient safety.
Vikki Lewis, chief digital information officer, said: “The opportunities offered by digital technology to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of our services have never been greater or more important.
“Sunrise EPR brings us into the 21st century as we implement digital solutions to improve our patient care and performance.”
Jon Hughes, chief clinical information officer said: “Clinical colleagues have created thousands of documents and observations in Sunrise EPR so far for new and existing patients.
“Normally completed on paper, these updates have allowed colleagues to refer patients directly to other wards they need to visit through EPR.
“Previously, this would all be done on paper records and physically handed to other teams which would add unnecessary delay.”
Jackie Edwards, interim chief nursing officer, added: “We still have a way to go in getting EPR to full capability but making the system live across the trust is a tremendous achievement and comes after a huge amount of work and years in the planning.
“We could not have done this without the support of all our clinical colleagues, digital partners and our system specialists from Altera who designed the software for our trust so we thank everyone involved for getting us here.”
Dr Anna Bayes, international medical director from Altera Digital Health, said: “The team at Worcestershire have demonstrated incredible commitment to this project, and as a result, it has been able to quickly improve its digital maturity.”
She added this was just the initial stage in Worcestershire Acute’s digitisation and the firm looked forward to building on this momentum, adding even more benefits.
