Worcestershire to introduce ePMA and CDS from Cambio

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust has contracted Cambio Healthcare Systems to develop a digital clinical solution for community and mental healthcare.

The Swedish supplier will create an integrated solution for e-prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) and clinical decision support (CDS).

The solution has been designed specifically for mental healthcare and will be interoperable with the trust’s OneAdvanced Carenotes EPR system.

Robert Mackie, the trust’s deputy chief executive and director of finance, said Cambio’s track record and proven technology were key to the supplier being selected.

He said: “The company’s existing range of digital solutions, including e-prescribing and medicines administration, clinical decision support and electronic patient record (EPR) are widely adopted in Sweden and are underpinning a health system that is among the best in the world.

“Harnessing this expertise will help us to continue to pioneer digital innovations to constantly improve care quality and outcomes.”

The solution will also employ FHIR open standards and APIs (applications programme interfaces) which will give other NHS trusts the opportunity to link any third party applications to it.

Worcestershire was among the first wave of GDEs announced by NHS England in 2017 and one of just seven mental health GDEs.

NHS England’s flagship digital programme prioritises already advanced digital trusts to act as exemplars for those less digitally mature.

Worcestershire’s partnership with Cambio is for three years initially, with the option to extend for a further two years.

Andrew Brindle, Cambio’s UK director of research and development, said: “In partnership with Worcestershire’s GDE project team, we are working on a set of technologies that will have the potential to reshape the delivery of mental health care in the NHS.

“This is a major project and true collaboration between the trust, our teams in the UK and Sweden and development centre in Sri Lanka.”