North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust (North Mid) has achieved official accreditation for the HIMSS Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) Stage 5 rating.
The HIMSS EMRAM rating system is an international quality standard measuring the adoption and maturity of a health facility’s inpatient EMR capabilities. Stage 5 means that the trust has established clear standards for improving safety, minimising errors and recognising the importance of healthcare IT, and in achieving it North Mid have reached the top 20 percent of trusts for digital maturity in England – a significant move from being fourth from the bottom in 2018.
Three years ago, North Mid started its Global Digital Exemplar programme, a national scheme aiming to support NHS trusts in improving their digital maturity and improving patient care, financial sustainability and staff experience.
The trust has been working in partnership with the digitally advanced Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust as a “fast follower”, part of an NHS England initiative to partner trusts up in order to accelerate digital maturity.
The trust has since established a clinically-led digital leadership team, introduced a single electronic patient record, and implemented electronic prescribing, electronic observations, electronic noting and single sign-on for clinical applications. The next phase of the trust’s digital development is set to focus on empowering patients to manage their own appointments and access their records online, whilst making greater use of hospital and population health data to tackle health inequalities.
Brendan Mahony, Chief Information Officer, commented: “We are thrilled that North Mid has successfully achieved a Stage 5 rating.
“It is a testament to the hard work of our teams over the last three years to transform the way we deliver healthcare so that it is safer, more efficient and improves patients’ experience. Achieving this international HIMSS standard reflects how our clinical teams at North Mid have embraced technology, and are using state-of-the-art clinical systems, data and analytics, as part of everyday clinical practice to support the outstanding care given to local people.”
HTN previously covered some of the work undertaken by North Mid to support their digital journey, when they invested £12 million between 2019 and 2021 to revolutionise their clinical systems.
