Norfolk and Waveney Acute Hospital Collaborative has announced the procurement of MEDITECH, as the electronic patient record supplier across three acute trusts.
The announcement follows approval of the financial plan from the trust boards, involving Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS FT, James Paget University Hospitals NHS FT, and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS FT.
Aiming to go-live with the system in 2025, EPR programme director Martin Evans, highlights it “is one of the biggest pieces of clinical and operational transformation we will ever complete”.
Martin added: “As someone who has overseen the implementation of several EPRs across the country, the biggest piece of advice I’d give to everyone is to get involved now – so many times I’ve heard clinicians and operational staff say that they wished they’d got involved in an EPR programme earlier!”
Chief executive officer, Alice Webster at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS FT and senior responsible officer for the EPR programme, said: “The electronic patient record programme is hugely exciting and a flagship project for the three acute hospitals in Norfolk and Waveney, and we’re delighted to have taken another step forward by choosing MEDITECH as our supplier.”
As part of the evaluation process for the system, more than 270 members of staff were involved to evaluate tender responses, which led to more than 700 requirement evaluation worksheets, the Collaborative noted.
The Collaborative has published further information on its EPR Hub, including resources for patients, staff, case studies and the EPR team involved. The Hub also shares the programme workstreams, including: its clinical design authority to provide clinical leadership; transformation and adoption workstream to support business change and adoption activities; commercial and finance workstream; technical workstream to guide the programme team around readiness activities and ensure technical requirements are met; and data and analytics workstream to ensure the EPR meets data requirements such as quality, cleansing, migration and maintenance.
Commenting on the news, Charlotte Jackson, CEO, MEDITECH International, added: “Like many places in the world, healthcare in the UK is undergoing tremendous change and selecting an EPR that meets the needs of an organisation and its patients now and into the future is essential.”
