BSW hospitals plans for shared patient records take a step forward

Plans by BSW’s acute hospital trusts to introduce shared electronic patient records (EPRs) have taken a step forward after a business case to fund the scheme was submitted to NHS England for approval.

The plans have already been approved by the Boards of Great Western Hospital Foundation Trust, the Royal United Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and BSW Integrated Care Board.

Shared records will provide a step change in the way clinicians deliver care in BSW and will see many aspects of care standardised across the system with reduced variation in clinical pathways.

A period of scrutiny for the proposals is underway, and it is hoped that the full business case will be approved in November. Allowing the project to move on to the next steps.

In the meantime, a review of current working practices is taking place across each of the three trusts. This review includes an analysis of current workflows and the use of existing technology, so a better understanding of how the three trusts can combine current operations and design the EPR to fit around these needs.

During this process, members of the EPR transformation team will be visiting colleagues across their areas of work and shadowing staff to help them better understand workflows and processes.

This task is vital to the success of designing the new EPR and will see work taking place across every area of our trusts, including emergency departments, theatres and outpatients departments. This work will take place over the course of the next six months. The time and assistance of everyone involved in helping with this work is much appreciated as this will make a real difference to the success of the implementation of the new EPR.

These steps follow the selection of Oracle Health as preferred bidder to deliver the EPR, which will eventually allow standardised care across the BSW system, reducing variation in clinical pathways and providing a better experience for both staff and patients.

The digital solution will allow colleagues to work more efficiently, avoid the duplication of patient records and help to develop a deeper understanding about the populations we serve in BSW  and how to tackle their differing health inequalities.

You can find out more about the benefits of the programme, by watching this short video, with Dr Jon Westbrook, Senior Responsible Officer for the programme.