An Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system is said to have transformed how one NHS hospital trust operates over the last 18 months.

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) says it has seen a range of improvements thanks to the Lorenzo EPR system.

The EPR is being used by staff as soon as a patient enters the hospital via the Emergency Department or Outpatient clinic until they are discharged home. The EPR now means staff can access up-to-date patient information instantly, from anywhere in any of the Trust’s three main hospitals, wherever the patient is.

By reducing the amount of forms and paper needed, the EPR has also saved the Trust £196,000.

Other notable results from projects which have taken place with the aim to improve patient care, include:

· 95% of electronic discharge summaries are now completed within 24 hours so the patient’s GP receives important information on the care they received in hospital at an earlier stage;

· 4,000 different drugs are being prescribed electronically across the Trust reducing the old paper processes. Around 14,000 drugs are being prescribed electronically per day across all of the Trust’s 59 different inpatient areas;

· Midwives working in the community can now access the latest information relating to a woman’s care remotely through laptops, so they no longer have to come back to base to enter hand written notes into the electronic system;

· Thanks to a series of dashboards, theatre staff across all three main hospitals can view the progress of a theatre session, manage patient lists, allocate teams for specific procedures and identify potential delays in schedules. 

Aaron Cummins, chief executive, UHMBT, said: “The work that has been on going across the Bay to use technology differently has really transformed the way staff work in hospital and out in the community for the better. It has also led to important improvements in patient safety and experience.

“One of the main challenges in Morecambe Bay is sharing information across three main hospitals across an area of 1,000 square miles. By using technology, it can really help us deliver better patient services and reduce the time spent by staff on paperwork. I think it’s really important that it is clinicians who are leading this work, as ultimately this is a tool for clinicians to use. We want it to make their working lives easier and in doing so give them more opportunities to deliver care in more effective ways for our patients.”