An NHS Trust in the South of England has opted for electronic patient record technology as part of its effort to improve its digital performance.

Medway NHS Foundation Trust is looking to make rapid improvements with technology for staff with the Allscripts Sunrise electronic patient record. 

The Kent trust signed a contract with Allscripts in December 2020 and is planning to go-live with the first phase from the start of the project. 

The launch of clinical documents with in-context links to other IT systems in use at the trust will give clinicians easier access to a single view of patient information. 

It will also lay the foundations for three further phases of a full electronic patient record roll-out, including e-prescribing and medicines administration, for which the trust has received national funding. 

Medway will be working with the Allscripts UK Blueprint that has been designed and tested with organisations such as Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Michael Beckett, interim director of IT at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our digital maturity is not where it should be, and that is something that the board and our clinicians want to address. We are running many legacy systems and we want to consolidate them to support our clinicians and build a platform for the future.”

“By working with Allscripts, we will also be working with the solution that is used by our neighbours at East Kent University Hospitals and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells. That will create tremendous opportunities across our region.”

“The trust is very excited about this development and what it will mean, not just for the next few months, but for the future.” 

Medway is a long-standing Allscripts client that went live with the company’s patient administration system in 2015. 

James Devine, Medway NHS Foundation Trust’s chief executive said: “This project will have a profound impact on the trust and healthcare across Kent.” 

“This is about giving our clinicians the digital tools they need to do the job, every day. It is also about creating a platform for increasingly joined-up systems across the region, so that we can benefit from sharing information and moving towards a population health and integrated care approach.” 

“I am confident that we have the right strategy, the right solution and the right proven supplier to deliver for our clinicians and for our patients.”

Richard Strong, vice president and managing director, EMEA, Allscripts, said: “We are pleased to see another NHS trust looking beyond the pandemic and choosing the Sunrise electronic patient record to support clinicians and patients in the future. 

“We look forward to working with Medway NHS Foundation Trust and its neighbouring organisations, East Kent University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust on a series of go-lives over the next few months. Together, these will have a significant positive impact on digital maturity across the region.”