Peterborough latest to Evolve records

Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is planning to have fully implemented Kainos’ Evolve electronic document management system by this autumn.

The trust received £792,000 from NHS England’s 'Safer Hospital, Safer Wards: Technology Fund' to support the installation as part of a drive to cut the use of paper records.

Trust board papers from May 2015 put the official launch of the system as 29 June, although it is still to be rolled out completely.

A spokesperson confirmed to Digital Health News: “The electronic document management system will be fully implemented by the end of the year; however we are aiming for an autumn completion.”

The trust plans to use Evolve to scan paper records and make them viewable electronically.

The board papers say: “This will mean that staff will be able to access patient information faster and reduce the time spent on paperwork, creating more time for them to spend with patients.”

The papers add that staff are currently taking part in training sessions for the system and that some members of a staff who are more mobile, such as therapists, will have access to the system on iPads.

Caroline Walker, acting chief executive for Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals, told Digital Health News the use of an EDMS is “the next natural step” in the trust’s plan to develop a full electronic patient record.

“By transferring to electronic patient records, we aim to eliminate the inefficiency and duplication associated with the manual paper-based health records processes, currently in place across the trust.

“However, as can be anticipated with a project of this scale, there are teething troubles which we are working closely with our providers to overcome whilst maintaining a high quality of care to our patients.”

Several other trusts are working using the Evolve EDMS to hosts scanned version of paper records.

In June this year both Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust went live with the system. 

Poole Hospital has also embedded the system into its CareCentric electronic patient record, provided by Graphnet.