The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust has officially launched the second phase of its electronic patient record (EPR) project which will see the record deployed across more sites.
Already in use across Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital, the next phase will see the Cerner-powered EPR brought to the Royal Free Hospital, as well as emergency departments and critical care units across the trust.
The EPR is being co-designed by clinical staff – including doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and allied health professionals – to make sure that it meets the needs of those using it and brings real benefits for their patients.
Programme director Alastair Crisp said: “It’s now two years since we first introduced the EPR at Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm Hospital, and in that time we’ve seen just how much of a difference it makes to staff. Over the coming months we will work with clinical staff to ensure that it provides the same benefits to those at the Royal Free Hospital. The result will be that staff can access whatever information they need, in real time.”
The Royal Free’s EPR also integrates with other technology that’s currently in use. Data from devices such as blood pressure monitors can be automatically uploaded into the system and trigger an alert to staff if something unusual is detected. Once in the system, the data is more secure than paper records – as only those issued with a smartcard have access.
Back in November 2019, Digital Health News visited Chase Farm Hospital to find out how the project was going.
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13 February 2021 @ 08:29
Hi Colin, you’re right, we implemented a new instance of Millennium called model content EPR, as part of our Global Digital Exemplar, into the new Chase Farm Hospital, as well as Barnet, Finchley and Edgware hospitals. This new phase will decommission the legacy NPfIT instance at Royal Free Hospital and roll out the model content solution there, so we will have a single, shared EPR across the RFL Group. We have digitised nearly 40 standardised care pathways into the EPR to improve patient care and outcomes and reduce cost. We are live with HIE for shared care records and Healtheintent for population health management across NCL ICS. We deployed the Zesty patient portal last summer and now have over 60,000 registrations, which will give access to medical records and allow patients to book appointments on-line. Very exciting and challenging times for all of us working in digital transformation !
12 February 2021 @ 14:54
Am I missing something here? As I remember Barnet had the Cerner system in place at least 15 years ago and The Royal Free implemented it as part of the National Programme for IT at least ten years ago. I recall all the issues they had at the time.