Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded stage 6 EMRAM from HIMSS.
EMRAM – the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model – grades a health facility’s adoption and maturity of its EMR capabilities. In line with the HIMSS criteria, the award of stage 6 means the trust has established clear goals for improving safety, minimising the risk of errors, and recognising the importance of healthcare IT.
Jane Tomkinson, chief executive at the trust, said: “We are delighted that LHCH [Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital] has successfully achieved a Stage 6 rating.
“This is testament to the incredible digital vision here at LHCH and the professionalism of all our teams who have embraced new digital ways of working and adopted new technology to enable us to deliver outstanding care to our patients.”
In 2013, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust became one of the first trusts nationally to introduce an Electronic Patient Record (EPR). Since then it has continued making strides in its digital journey: integrating clinical systems, embedding information sharing across care services, and investing in digital infrastructure, cyber security and intelligence-led care.
The HIMSS EMRAM rating comes after it launched a new five-year digital strategy earlier this year. Furthermore, in March 2021 the trust was was named as part of the second wave of the NHSX Digital Aspirant Programme. The scheme will support the trust as it works to improve its digital maturity.
Kate Warriner, chief digital and information officer for the trust, said: “Digital Excellence must be the cornerstone if we are to continually improve the care that we provide for our patients in the years ahead. Therefore, whilst we are rightly proud of this achievement, we have ambitions for further pioneering innovation and advancing our use of technology to become a Stage 7 hospital.”
Liverpool Heart and Chest’s aspiration to achieve Stage 7 would see it join Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, who recently became the first paediatric hospital in Europe to achieve EMRAM Stage 7, and Sunderland Royal Hospital, who was awarded Stage 7 a year ago this month