A number of UK trusts will take part in NHSX’s Digital Aspirant Plus (DA+) programme, to further the implementation of electronic patient records (EPR).
Seed funding of up to £250,000 will go to the selected organisations in order to speed up their implementation and digital healthcare planning of 2021/22.
Among those chosen include Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, which will take part in the EPR Innovator Project for Community and Mental Health Trusts programme. They plan to recruit operational Digital Champions to help develop their EPR.
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (ABP) and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust will also receive funding, and is focusing on scaling up as a provider.
WHY IT MATTERS
The trusts will be able to select and implement more technically efficient EPR solution, with guidance from NHSX.
NHSX has said it will create delivery templates with participating trusts to bring about adoption of the new programme as well as working with other organisations, which will support them in saving funds and time when implementing an EPR.
In the acute sector, the programme will join forces with organisations to foster them at an early stage in their digital transformation in order to implement an up-to-date EPR.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
The scheme will use digital technology to automate support as well as improve the ICT infrastructure. The aim is to give patients direct access to services and the ability to contribute to and share health information through secure patient portals.
In addition, four trusts have also been selected to take part in the EPR Accelerator Project for Acute Trusts project. These are Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT).
The Digital Aspirant scheme helps NHS trusts reduce the gap between the levels of digitisation across the NHS. In February 2020, 23 NHS trusts were named as the first sites for the programme.
ON THE RECORD
Dr Jason Bincalar, chief information officer at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, told Healthcare IT News: “Joining the Digital Aspirant Plus programme - EPR Accelerator is a great outcome for Liverpool. A modern integrated electronic patient record will underpin how we deliver safe and effective care, enabling us to share our knowledge and experience with the patient and provider organisations.”
“The EPR, which we refer to as CaRL (Care Record Liverpool) will be implemented across all our hospitals and all clinical services, including Accident & Emergency, Inpatients and Outpatients, replacing our legacy digital systems.
“CaRL will be a modern intuitive integrated secure digital system, designed to support our patients and staff, with mobility and flexibility being significant outcomes. A fundamental objective of CaRL is to provide a longitudinal patient record at the point of care, with slick workflows and decision support, underpinning the patient journey. CaRL will consolidate and disseminate relevant patient information to and from our partner organisations within the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System. CaRL will also support patient self-service and will become a shared record.”
Mike Meers, ESNEFT’s director of information communication and technology, said: “This funding will help us take a major step forward in our digital transformation programme. It will allow us to work with our NHS partners to develop a case for further funding, which in turn will support our innovative plans to use technology to further improve the care we are able to deliver and the service our patients receive.”
“Electronic Patient Record systems are the building blocks of good digital healthcare, but they are also complex and expensive to procure. At NHSX, we want to positively shape the EPR market in England and help local NHS organisations procure new, modern solutions and drive wider innovation in the market,” Sonia Patel, CIO at NHSX said.
