Digital Health’s monthly roundup of contracts and go lives

Our September roundup of contracts and go lives features Hospital at Night being introduced at University Hospitals Plymouth and the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust extending its partnership with Babylon.

Two Central and North West London mental health wards deploy electronic prescribing

First up – the start of September saw us report on how two mental health wards, run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) have gone live with an electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) system from TPP.

Redwood Ward and Kershaw Ward at St. Charles Hospital in West London were selected as the first pilot sites to roll out the SystmOne EPMA solution in July.

Going paperless has meant prescribing information at the wards is now more accessible to all clinical staff that require it. This means nurses no longer have to call the pharmacy searching for charts or ask doctors whether they can take charts for medicines rounds.

Furthermore, large screens have been installed on drug carts, in the nurses’ offices and in rooms where ward rounds are conducted which means staff can access information when and where they need it.

NHS Scotland agrees deal with GS1 UK

The end of August saw NHS Scotland announcing that it had signed a five-year agreement with GS1 UK to help drive the rollout of standards within provider organisations across the country.

Working with the standards organisation, NHS Scotland is looking to use GS1 standards to enable them to identify, track, and trace products (namely medicines and medical devices).

NHS Scotland becomes the latest devolved nation – alongside England, Northern Ireland, and more recently Wales – to commit to the widespread adoption of GS1’s standards, which provide a common language in healthcare. Such standards can help underpin systems, and processes to ensure data flow for every patient, irrespective of the care setting.

Allocate’s eCommunity adopted by five NHS trusts

August also saw Digital Health reporting on how five NHS trusts have rolled out Allocate’s eCommunity tool to help free up staff time and allow them to spend more time with patients.

The employee rostering and workforce planning tool for community healthcare providers has been adopted by North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and James Paget University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The technology will help care staff to prioritise their workloads and free up time that can be spent delivering care to patients in need.

Royal Wolverhampton extends Babylon partnership

We have also seen the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust extending its partnership with Babylon in a bid to introduce a ‘integrated and accessible’ digital-first healthcare.

The partnership will see the rollout of Babylon 360 to more than 55,000 people covered by Royal Wolverhampton’s primary care network.

Babylon 360 provides patients with digital-first access to healthcare via an app. It provides users with 24/7 access to information, health monitoring and healthcare professionals, according to the company.

The Royal Wolverhampton has worked with Babylon since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to encourage the adoption of digital services in the area.

Hospital at Night introduced at University Hospitals Plymouth

Finally, the middle of August saw Digital Health reporting on how University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has introduced Nervecentre’s Hospital At Night.

The centralised, mobile digital platform means that patient care during the night shift can be closely monitored and prioritised as necessary. Between 20:00 and 08:00, the software is used to ensure ward requests are sent electronically to the acute care team coordinators. They can then assign tasks to their medical colleagues with one click.

The system offers real-time information so it’s simple for the acute care team to know which doctors are available, where they are in the hospital and what their current workload looks like and assign tasks to the most suitable clinician.