The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has become the first NHS trust to install the e-prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) solution from iSOFT, a CSC company, after an initial implementation at The Royal Oldham Hospital, under plans to transform and improve patient safety and clinical outcomes across the trust.
ePMA is installed on elderly rehabilitation wards at The Royal Oldham, with doctors, nurses and pharmacists using the software to improve the management of medicines. Following this proof of concept phase, the solution will be rolled out across numerous specialties at the trust's four main hospitals, including A&E, medical assessment unit, oncology and surgical wards, under plans for a trust-wide implementation.
Pennine Acute's associate director of IM&T, Christine Walters, said: "ePMA is a key building block for our strategy to implement a comprehensive electronic patient record. We have undertaken a thorough baseline performance review prior to implementation and we are expecting to able to show benefits relating to patient safety, clinical outcomes and operational efficiency. Early signs are very encouraging."
ePMA is part of a larger programme at Pennine Acute. iSOFT is also delivering a number of integrated clinical solutions, including order communications and results reporting, electronic whiteboards, clinical documentation and a clinical portal.
"This is a clear sign that Pennine continues to gain real value from its partnership with iSOFT and now CSC," said Adrian Stevens, managing director of iSOFT's UK and Ireland business. "Our solution offers substantial benefits in terms of patient safety and patient care and will make a real and lasting difference to clinical staff."
iSOFT ePMA provides new opportunities to improve the communication of medicines related information between medical, nursing and clinical pharmacy teams. Advanced drug formulary management underpinned by clinical and workflow based decision support provides a highly effective environment to help improve a hospital's performance in relation to medicines. In-built reporting and data analysis tools provide executive and management visibility of performance to help proactively address areas of concern or promote good practice.
Proven at large acute and specialist hospitals in Australia and New Zealand, iSOFT ePMA is shown to halve adverse medication errors that can prolong a patient's stay by up to four days, and so block hospital beds and increase costs.
Related news articles:
- iSOFT's Profile
About CSC
CSC is a global leader in providing technology-enabled business solutions and services. Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., CSC has approximately 93,000 employees and reported revenue of $16.2 billion for the 12 months ended July 1, 2011.