North Cumbria Integrated Care chooses Better solution for e-prescribing

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with an e-prescribing and allergy monitoring platform from Better.

The platform will be operational across the trust’s acute and community hospitals and will be implemented in partnership with CGI.

The Better Meds solution will support the immediate integration of the trust’s existing decision support systems as well as its pharmacy and Omnicell automated dispensing cabinets.

The solution is built on an openEHR platform to allow further integration with new systems in the future.

It marks the next step in the trust’s ambition to move away from paper-based systems towards a central EPR model, intended to improve the delivery of hospital and community health services to more than half a million people.

Michael Smillie, executive director of finance and digital at the trust, said: “One of the most important components of our transformation, as an organisation and wider healthcare system, will be how well we embrace the challenge of digital.

“Digital health plays a pivotal role in improving how care is delivered, empowering both communities and professionals through better digital services and information.

“We believe that ePMA is a crucial element of this and a priority for us in terms of our quality and safety agenda. We are excited for the benefits it will bring for our patients and staff.”

The Better Allergies Portal will also be implemented at the trust. It’s hoped the platforms will reduce medication errors, eliminate issues related to paper systems including lost files, and increase accountability and staff efficiencies.

It will be piloted at a single site ward testing and amending medication configuration before a full rollout across the trust’s two acute sites and county-wide community hospitals.

Matthew Cox, managing director of Better for the UK and Ireland, added: “We are proud to be chosen by NCIC as their ePMA provider. Digitising the current prescribing process not only benefits NCIC in the short term it also allows NCIC access to the data through open standards for future projects.

“Better Meds is designed for usability and safe prescribing for the patients. We are excited to get Better Meds in the hands of clinicians and pharmacists. With our strategic ecosystem partnerships with other leading technology suppliers, such as Omnicell, we can ensure that our technology solutions are truly revolutionary for our clients.”