One Year until the Royal Devon and Exeter goes live with pioneering transformation programme - a first for the UK

Today marks the one year countdown to the start of the RD&E’s MY CARE Programme - the single biggest clinical transformation programme ever undertaken at the Trust.  This is also the first transformation of its type in the UK to be implemented across the acute hospital and community services.

MY CARE aims to fundamentally improve people’s experience of care at the RD&E (including members of the public, patients, carers and staff), by better connecting care between our hospitals, community clinics and the care people receive at home.  It means that patients will be seen in the place that makes most sense for the care they need, reducing unnecessary hospital visits or extended stays.  The improvements to services and support will be enabled by the introduction of a single, comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR) system, replacing the multiple computer and paper systems we currently have in place.

Tracey Cottam, MY CARE Programme Joint Senior Responsible Officer (SRO), said: “The Trust has a long track record of continually delivering service improvement for the benefit of patients.  

“However, the challenges facing the NHS, nationally and locally, with a growing and ageing population and ever increasing demand, means we have to deliver a new way of providing healthcare to the communities we serve - this means that we have to transform what we do and the way we do it.

“Technology on its own won’t  deliver the transformation needed – that is why we are listening and engaging  with hundreds of patients, staff,  and carers to improve how we organise and deliver healthcare in the future.”

MY CARE will provide a range of benefits to patients including:

They will have easy and secure access to their own records - empowering them to take more control of their own health and wellbeing.

They will also no longer have to repeat the same information over and over and they will get their test results quicker.

They will be alerted if an appointment becomes available due to a cancellation. 

Patients, and the staff caring for them, will have easy and real-time access to a comprehensive picture of the patient’s healthcare history and treatment plan in a fraction of the time - GPs and staff providing care within patients’ homes will also be able to access the information and have the latest tech devices to manage care in a more mobile way.

The new way of working and the use of cutting edge technology mean the current frustrations faced by staff from having to log in many times to multiple computer systems and using paper documentation and forms will be eliminated – giving clinicians more time to care for patients. 

Tracey concludes; “The RD&E already has a global reputation for innovation thanks to the pioneering work around hip replacement surgery and introducing robotic prostate surgery.  MY CARE is a ground-breaking Programme because it is making significant improvements to the way we organise and deliver services in the acute hospital and community settings.

“We hope MY CARE will help to demonstrate the fundamental improvements that can be made to the way healthcare is delivered using digital technologies and set the bar for other healthcare providers in the UK to follow.

“Ultimately, we want to improve patient outcomes and experience.”