RD&E gives green light for new patient-centred comprehensive health record system
RD&E has received NHS Improvement approval to proceed with a new clinical transformation programme. As well as fundamentally improving the way services and care are delivered to patients, the programme will see paper-based patient records at the RD&E becoming a thing of the past.
The MY CARE Programme is the cornerstone of a broader programme of change that will engage those people who need our services together with those people entrusted to deliver them, to transform the way that care is delivered and make services at the RD&E more clinically and financially sustainable for the future, enabled by new technology.
The Trust’s Board approved the MY CARE Programme including the go ahead for implementing a comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR) supplied by US-based healthcare technology company, Epic. Epic, who were selected after a rigorous procurement and due diligence process, is used by many of the world’s top-ranked hospitals, health systems, and medical schools who are working collaboratively to improve patient care, innovate healthcare delivery, and achieve financial health.
Epic is an integrated platform, meaning that there’s just one record for each patient and providers have the full picture of each patient’s story. For the first time ever at the RD&E, key aspects of a patient’s care – their medical history, current medications and latest test results – will be available in a single encrypted interactive digital care record which can be updated in real time.
The new MY CARE Programme will help RD&E staff deliver improved care to their patients, replacing the fragmented system in place today, which is largely still paper-based. Clinicians, patients, and those caring for them, will benefit from MyChart, a portal available via an app on their smartphones or online, with features that include:
Medical history
Test results
Secure messaging with providers
Appointment scheduling
Health reminders for overdue health maintenance screenings, wellness visits, etc.
Detailed work is underway to commence the programme from September 2018 with the plan spanning approximately 23 months prior to a planned go-live in the Summer of 2020. Extensive work in preparing our people, patients and our public for this new way of health care provision will be undertaken including patient engagement, redesign of clinical services and pathways, IT system testing and staff training.
The investment in creating world-class health services and care for our patients has required the RD&E to secure funding of approximately £42m with the programme expected to deliver significant quality, capacity releasing and financial benefits – essentially paying for itself over the lifetime of the programme.
Tracey Cottam, Director of Transformation and Organisational Development, said: “Our teams across the Trust work very hard to consistently deliver great care to our patients and as a result, our services are rated highly even at a time of unprecedented demand. But some of the ways we currently deliver services could be improved and some of the current processes and systems we use consume too much time of our staff and make it harder for them to provide the level of compassionate, personalised care they aspire to.
"We need to find a better way of working that is more effective, and more clinically and financially sustainable for the future. The transformation of our services, enabled by the new technology will give all clinicians a much more comprehensive picture of their patients and their healthcare in a fraction of the time.”
Adrian Harris, Medical Director, said, “This is a very exciting moment for the RD&E because the MY CARE Programme will help make the care we provide even better. Patients will have direct access to their care record while at home, providing the same control and convenience for managing their health that they’ve come to expect in other areas of their life. For my clinical colleagues, the programme will help them do what matters most: deliver high-quality, compassionate care to the people who need it.”
“We look forward to supporting RD&E on this journey as they take the next step toward implementing their vision of integrated and high-quality care for those they serve,” said Epic Chief Executive Officer and Founder Judy Faulkner.
She added: “Alongside Cambridge University Hospitals, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and University College London Hospitals, RD&E now joins a growing cohort of the United Kingdom’s health information technology leaders who are part of an Epic community where innovation and collaboration are improving patient care.”
