News

EPR expansion for Black Country Healthcare

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has expanded its electronic patient record programme through a £4.1 million investment in additional capabilities.

The trust went live with its electronic patient record (EPR) system in 2019, as part of a 10-year deal to digitise its mental health, children young people and families and learning disabilities services.

A contract award notes the additional capabilities procured to include: EPR integration with Outlook Calendar, EPR text messaging, 750 additional EPR licences and an EPR mobile solution.

Further capabilities being introduced in the programme will provide: MS Teams/VOIP functionality, EPR electronic document distribution, scanning historical records, a document API and scanning historical records bulk document upload.

Initially the programme scope delivered digital processes for: patient search and registration, clinical records, referrals, assessment and review, caseload management, care programme approach, care planning, care clusters, treatment and clinical activity, admissions/discharges/transfers, clinic scheduling, and clinic booking.

The driver behind the expansion was the need for additional services as part of achieving frontline digitisation. View the award here.

Elsewhere in the region, HTN recently covered the news of a joint five-year strategy between The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. Their joint vision is to “deliver exceptional care together to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities”, with four strategic aims to excel in the delivery of care; to support colleagues; to implement effective collaboration; and to improve the health and wellbeing of the trusts’ communities. Here we take a closer look at the plans.