NHS Improvement has approved a new clinical transformation programme MY CARE at Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust which includes moving to the EPIC EPR.
The Trust’s Board approved the MY CARE Programme including the go ahead for implementing EPIC supplied by a US-based healthcare technology company.
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 18 with the plan spanning c.23 months prior to a planned go-live in the Summer of 2020.
The Trust said “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 c. £42m with the programme expected to deliver significant quality, capacity releasing and financial benefits – essentially paying for itself over the lifetime of the programme.”
“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,” said Tracey Cottam, Director of Transformation and Organisational Development. “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 whilst 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.”
