Burton upgrades Meditech EPR

Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust plans to upgrade its Meditech electronic patient record in the next few months.

A spokesperson for the West Midlands trust said it will launch Meditech v6.0 before the end of the current financial year, replacing its existing Meditech system.

This is two years after the trust’s initial plan to move to the upgraded system at the end of the 2013-14 financial year.

The spokesperson said: “The Trust always puts the patient experience first, and the upgrade to v 6.0 is a substantial undertaking, so we have taken a little additional time to ensure that operationally and clinically, the systems are in place to support a smooth transition and roll-out.”

The upgrade to Meditech v 6.0 gives Burton Hospitals the opportunity to install the EPR for the first time at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital and Sir Robert Peel Hospital, two community hospitals the trust took over in 2011 that have been using legacy products.

In a statement, the trust said that by having the same clinical system across these sites and the acute Queen's Hospital it can reduce duplication of work and improve efficiency and patient safety.

Queen’s Hospital has been using Meditech for 23 years where it is currently used in the following services: A&E, patient care and patient safety for nursing and maternity, theatre management, consultant care manager and integrated order communications and electronic prescribing with results reporting.

It also covers patient administration system services such as admissions, bed management, documents management and clinical coding.

The trust’s chief information officer Manni Imiavan, who joined in the summer, said the move is “far more than just a technical upgrade of the current functionality.”

“It’s an exciting time for the trust as we become one of the first in the country to use these world-class digital technologies to help the trust deliver the best patient experience possible.”

He added that the implementation is part of Burton Hospitals’ five year strategic plan to create a viable and sustainable health service and plans are in place to support a smooth implementation.

“We are ensuring that staff are trained in all aspects of the new platform and that a robust infrastructure is in place to support it,” he said. “Our clinicians have been involved in planning the implementation process and our long-established partnership with Meditech means that we have a good, productive, collaborative relationship with them which provides a firm foundation for the roll-out.”

Several other NHS trusts have recently made the move from older versions of Meditech to Meditech v 6.0, including City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is also planning to move to the new system.