Bucks hospitals go digital with System C

An electronic patient record from System C has gone live across a series of hospitals in Buckinghamshire.

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust started deploying Medway 4, the new generation of System C’s software, as its core EPR today. 

Medway is now rolled out across A&E, maternity, theatres, inpatient and outpatient departments in Stoke Mandeville, High Wycombe and the trust’s community hospitals.  

David Williams, Buckinghamshire’s director of strategy and business development said: “This has been a huge exercise, with over 2,000 staff trained on the software. We are delighted to have progressed to live service running and to be in a position now where we can start looking to reap the benefits. 

“This is a major strategic investment for us. It is obviously early days, but we are looking to Medway to help us streamline administrative processes and improve patient services, and reduce paper-based processes. 

“More importantly, Medway allows for the electronic recording of clinically-rich information, supporting us in improving the quality of care we offer patients.”

Lead midwife for maternity inpatients and governance Lucy Duncan said: “In maternity we’ve found Medway much more clinician-friendly, intuitive and logical.

“Staff seem to like it and I believe that this is the system that will finally enable us to go paperless in future. This would free up valuable time for us to spend with our patients.”

The 10-year contract with System C covers the Medway patient administration system, as well as modules for A&E, results reporting, maternity, mobile working, theatres, clinical documentation, task management and observations.

The trust confirmed it was going to take the system in February. Medway 4 replaces Buckinghamshire's Cerner Millennium EPR, delivered as part of the National Programme for IT in 2006. National contracts for the system expire at the end of this month.

Ian Denley, joint chief executive of System C, said Medway 4 was launched in the summer and is already implemented at Isle of Man’s Noble’s Hospital. 

“Medway 4 is a major re-write of our existing product set, and provides the platform for a whole range of enhanced clinical functionality,” he said.