The NHS Wales Informatics Service has signed a seven-year contract with WellSky to implement a new pharmacy system and has also launched its own bowel cancer screening software.
The pharmacy software replaces a 30 year old system, and is part of a major plan to modernise pharmacy and prescribing.
Colin Powell, Chief Pharmacist, Acute Services at Aneurin Bevan said “This will be a new way of working for hospital pharmacy with improved data and reporting to shape future services.”
Robert Tysall-Blay, Chief Executive, WellSky Intl said “The All Wales Pharmacy project will assist transformational change and provide an enhanced service. WellSky International is delighted to be working with NWIS and the wider Welsh pharmacy community on this exciting new national digital project.”
The pharmacy system will link medication dispensing and usage data by using nationally recognised standards, and provide a comprehensive view and joined-up approach.
The system will roll out to all Welsh hospitals from mid-2020, followed by a procurement for an e-prescribing system.
The Informatics Service has also developed and launched its own software to supporting the Public Health Wales bowel screening programme, which has launched a new campaign with Bowel Cancer UK to encourage more eligible people to take the test.
The Bowel Screening Information Management System is a web application that supports the screening process, by selecting people from the Welsh population for screening. People aged 60 to 74 years old are eligible for the free NHS bowel screening test every two years.
Eligible people invited for screening are sent a home screening kit in the post which is returned and tested in NHS Wales laboratories. The labs use BSIMS to keep track of the kits, record the results and produce results letters. Anyone with a positive screening result is referred for further investigations and assessment by Specialist Screening Practitioners. The tool supports the process with a clinic booking module and provides a diary and online assessment form for specialist screening practitioners.
