Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust To Launch Ground-Breaking e-prescribing O
Industry News | Oct. 4, 2017, 11:04 a.m.
Plymouth, 23.9.2017
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust To Launch Ground-Breaking Electronic System For Prescription And Medications Management
Plymouth Hospitals is the first NHS Trust in England to implement the paperless prescribing and medications administration (ePMA) system OPENeP which will free up clinicians to spend more time providing care to patients.
OPENeP is an open source ePMA solution built on an open standards, vendor-neutral health data repository, Think!EHR PlatformTM, and is a “first of type” implementation for the NHS.
OPENeP will replace time-consuming manual prescription and medication administration processes. The system uses open, sharable standards and supports the Government’s objective under Personalised Health and Care 2020 to ensure that different technology systems interoperate and data is able to flow seamlessly under the appropriate controls.
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, as part of its clinical information system strategy, has formed a partnership with Marand, the Apperta Foundation and CGI to implement the solution which will transform working practices to create a new standard in quality of care and drive greater patient outcomes by putting clinicians at the forefront of the development process.
Andy Blofield, Director of IM&T (CIO) at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said “The Trust has supported an open standards approach to solutions development and delivery for many years and the implementation of a class leading ePMA solution based on this, new to the NHS, openEHR platform represents a significant step towards true data and system independence. We see this as the core building block of our paperless Integrated Digital Care Record and, in collaboration with local and National partners, will encourage the development of a vibrant eco-system which supports local development, promotes organic innovation and application development by SME’s and creates robust partnerships with major commercial partners to implement and support the solution.”
The OPENeP paperless system will help safeguard both patients and staff when medicines are prescribed and administered by supporting the closed loop medication management. Clinicians will scan the patient wristband to create or retrieve the patient prescription and, once a prescription has been created, it will then be available across the Trust for prescribing, approval and for drugs administration simultaneously.
The solution will improve patient safety by reducing prescribing and administration errors that could result in adverse drug incidents. It will also improve communication between pharmacists, doctors and nurses, enable work prioritisation, enhance reporting and optimise existing workflows.
Clinicians at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust are directly involved in the development of the Marand OPENeP medication management system, working under the custodianship of the Apperta Foundation. The Code4Health clinical community, which is supported by NHS England and NHS Digital, has also collaborated on the project to enhance the established system and assure the safety standards required by UK healthcare communities.
CGI, as the Trust’s solution integration partner, will oversee the deployment and integration of Marand’s OPENeP at the Trust to support a seamless transition from existing paper-based systems to what will become a truly sustainable open-source standards architecture. Once complete, the solution will drive greater cost savings and operational efficiencies, all while allowing Plymouth to be vendor neutral.
Notes to Editors
ABOUT PLYMOUTH HOSPITALS NHS TRUST
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is the largest hospital in the south west peninsula, providing comprehensive secondary and tertiary healthcare. It has a secondary care catchment population of 450,000 with a wider peninsula population of almost 2,000,000 people who can access its specialist services. Staff at the trust work within a network of other hospitals to offer a range of specialist services such as kidney transplant, cardiothoracic surgery and neonatal intensive care and high risk obstetrics.
ABOUT APPERTA FOUNDATION
The Apperta Foundation is a not-for-profit, non-dividend paying community interest company founded by health professionals in 2015 to improve technology in health and social care. We bring open products and services to market that truly transform the delivery of care for clinicians and patients.
ABOUT CODE4HEALTH
Code4Health is an initiative supported by NHS England and NHS Digital to enable the best use of digital tools and technology to deliver safe, high quality, efficient and compassionate care. Code4Health aim to educate and inform all participants in the health and care community: citizens, patients, carers, health, care and digital professionals about the possibilities digital technologies provide and equip them with the tools, knowledge and skills to collaborate to develop and implement high quality digital solutions.
ABOUT MARAND
Marand’s vision for healthcare IT is coined as "Integrate. Open. Innovate." Think!EHR Platform™ is well aligned with this vision as it uses IHE-based standards to integrate existing devices, systems and data. By storing data in an open, vendor-neutral format, it enables ecosystems of vendors to innovate. This approach is fuelling next generation solutions known as the Postmodern EHR.
ABOUT CGI
Founded in 1976, CGI Group Inc. is the fifth largest independent information technology and business process services firm in the world. Approximately 70,000 professionals serve thousands of global clients from offices and delivery centers across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, leveraging a comprehensive portfolio of services, including high-end business and IT consulting, systems integration, application development and maintenance and infrastructure management, as well as 150 IP-based services and solutions. With annual revenue in excess of C$10 billion and an order backlog exceeding C$20 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB).
ABOUT NHS DIGITAL
NHS Digital is the national information and technology provider for the health and care system. Our team of information analysis, technology and project management experts create, deliver and manage the crucial digital systems, services, products and standards upon which health and care professionals depend. During the 2015/16 financial year, NHS Digital published 294 statistical reports. Our vision is to harness the power of information and technology to make health and care better. We provide ‘Information and Technology for better health and care’. Find out more about our role and remit at www.digital.nhs.uk NHS Digital support the development of Interoperable applications using open standards, open data and open APIs that will help improve care for patients.
OPENeP is a comprehensive medication management solution that fully supports even the most complex medication management scenarios in a simple and easy to use way. Decision support for situations known as “never events”, allergies, and dose range, as well as powerful integration options, empower doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, allowing them to improve patient safety, and deliver better and more personalised medical care.
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