Sussex emergency department launches electronic prescribing

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex) has gone live with digital observations and electronic prescribing in the emergency department (ED) at Princess Royal Hospital.

Patientrack, the electronic observations product supplied by Alcidion, and Careflow medicines management, the electronic prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) system supplied by System C, went live at Princess Royal Hospital on 24 February 2026.

The technology will allow the department to transition away from paper-based observation charts and handwritten medication records.

Joseph Coupe, lead pharmacist for clinical informatics at UHSussex, said “Moving prescribing in the emergency department from paper to a fully digital system is a considerable change in medicine safety.

“Handwritten charts carry well-documented risks from transcription errors to missed allergy information, particularly in high-pressure environments.

“Having prescribing built into a digital system with clear prompts and safety checks gives clinicians better support at the point of care.

“It brings more consistency to how medicines are prescribed and administered and gives us much better visibility in real time.”

Vital signs including heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and oxygen saturation are now recorded digitally at the point of care, and early warning scores are calculated automatically, with built-in alerts to flag patient deterioration, including indicators aligned to sepsis pathways.

The ePMA system highlights things like allergies, potential drug interactions and dosing guidance at the point of care, helping reduce manual checks and lowering risk in fast-paced, high-pressure environments.

In the first 10 days, more than 3,000 medicines were prescribed using the ePMA, replacing processes that previously relied entirely on handwritten documentation.

The deployment at Princess Royal Hospital represents the first phase of a trust-wide ED digitisation programme, with all other EDs scheduled to follow this year.

Lucia Bisi, lead digital nurse at UHSussex, said: “This will make a huge difference for both our staff and our patients.

“Instead of relying on paper charts, we can now see straight away if someone’s condition is changing, with early warning scores worked out automatically and visible to the whole team. It helps us make safer decisions and give patients the right care at the right time.”

The first ED launch of digital observations and electronic prescribing is part of the trust’s digital transformation programme, which includes a £100 million investment in digital transformation.

UHSussex also announced in January 2026 that it has selected Alcidion as the supplier of its new single, integrated electronic patient record (EPR) system, with  deployment planned to begin in spring 2027.