Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT has been recognised as a ‘leading digital trust,’ as part of the NHS England and Improvement Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) programme.
The trust started the programme in 2017, and has since introduced 30 projects, including the adoption and development of its Cerner electronic patient record system, electronic prescribing medications administration, virtual consultations and made progress to become paperless.
Demonstrating the scale, the trust noted in an average month it “sees 183,000 appointments placed; 2.9 million clinical records opened; 566,000 medications administered; 583,000 clinical notes and plans ordered and signed; and 30,000 diagnoses created via EPR each month.”
Over the past years, the trust became one of the first hospitals in the UK to enable patients to access medical data through the Health Records app on iPhone, and hit 100% digitisation of surgical histology slides.
Among some of the recent projects at the trust, it’s adopted digital blood transfusion with decision support, integrated a vital signs early warning application, introduced prescribing decision support and robotic pharmacy dispensing, medicines administration through patient wristband barcode and drug package barcode scanning, prompts and alerts to improve the management of critical aspects of care, Single Sign-On and patient flow status updates.
David Walliker, Chief Digital and Partnership Officer, said of the new accreditation: “What we have achieved in terms of digitalisation of care over the last five years, and specifically during the pandemic, has been remarkable.
“I am so proud of the Digital team. All the improvements have transformed the way we deliver care and collaborate with each other and, even in such a challenging time, have had a powerful and positive impact on and empowering staff and patients.
“In line with the OUH Strategy for 2020-2025 and our policy of ‘Digital by Default’, we will continue to harness digital technologies to further improve patient care, the safety and effectiveness of our services, and sustainability for the future.”
Dermot Ryan, Director of Frontline Digitisation at NHS England and NHS Improvement, added: “Oxford University Hospitals are demonstrating the real-world benefits of digitally enabled care and through the GDE programme the trust has accelerated its digital transformation journey.
“Building on strong foundations, including the electronic patient record system and decision support systems, the digital team is providing staff with the right tools to do their jobs, and giving patients better and safer care.”
HTN recently covered the news of Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS FT formal accreditation from NHS England as a Global Digital Exemplar, and confirmation its achieved HIMSS EMRAM level 5.
