Lincs trust starts paperless prescribing

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with e-prescribing on two wards at its Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby. 

The trust is rolling out an electronic prescribing and medicines administration system from Ascribe in a phased approach over the next 12 months.

David Owen, assistant chief pharmacist and ePMA trust project manager described it as an exciting project.

“The aim of the system is to improve the safety and efficiency of healthcare by providing clear and legible prescriptions and assistance in the prescribing process,” he said.

“A dedicated team of experts will be rolling out this exciting project which will see prescriptions being ordered electronically for the first time at our three hospitals.”

The ePMA system provides a direct computerised link between the wards and departments to the pharmacies.

Debbie Carpenter, a ward manager on one of the two wards that is live with the system said moving off paper for prescribing is a big step.

“This is a very exciting development, which sees the prescribing and administration of medicines moving forward into the technological world of the future when all patient records could be paperless,” she said.

The trust, which is going for a best of breed approach to its electronic patient record system, already uses Ascribe patient administration, emergency care, and pharmacy stock management and clinical screening systems.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole has also developed a portal called WebV, based on InterSystems Cache. It is a trust-wide system which covers all diagnostic disciplines, giving clinicians access to information and order communications in a web-based application.

As well as e-prescribing, the trust is implementing electronic handover, discharge summaries and clinical documentation. All of these modules will be integrated into the portal.