University Hospitals of Liverpool Group has introduced automated medicine management, supporting an aim for safer and efficient medicines processes.
In a partnership with BD, automated dispensing cabinets will be installed in 48 clinical areas over the next two years at Aintree University Hospital. These will reportedly provide clinicians with information about patients and medications, offering integration with wider hospital medication and IT systems. According to the group, the cabinets also have built-in safety and security features that are intended to help reduce the risk of medication errors.
The technology has been in place in Aintree’s major trauma ward since September. Once it is rolled out across the site, impact will be assessed on clinical workflows and medicines safety, to build a case for adoption for further group sites.
Sarah Thompson, CCIO for pharmacy and medicines, highlighted the impact the cabinets have already had in EDs at Royal Liverpool and Aintree, simplifying processes, and ensuring the right medications are given to the right patients at the right time. “Entering into this larger scale use of cabinets at our Aintree site is an exciting opportunity that will only enhance the care we are able to provide to our patients,” she added.
In July, the group noted “significant progress on cyber security” and the data security and protection toolkit (DSPT). Increased cross-group working has been observed across LUHFT and Liverpool Women’s Hospital, the board stated, with consideration for where information sharing helps both organisations maintain a secure environment. Also noted are annual penetration tests, and a “well-established” forum for central review of cyber security. Following a focus on transitioning to digital forms, improving electronic clinical record keeping, and working on real-time scanning for paper-based records, plans are in development for the coming two years, that will reportedly see the trust transform to “digital first intelligent information”, hoped to promote strong governance and timely access to data.
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust also announced a 10-year agreement for the Nervecentre electronic patient record system across the trust’s hospitals. The £53 million agreement will see Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital and Royal Liverpool University Hospital utilise the single, integrated digital patient record, joining 15 trusts now committed to Nervecentre.
The system is planned to replace “a complex landscape of existing digital systems”, the trust said. Adding that “LUHFT will continue to work closely with Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, The Walton Centre and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, as they progress business cases to adopt the same EPR system. This approach supports the long‑term vision for a shared EPR across Liverpool’s adult and specialist services, enabling greater integration and consistency of care.”
Wider trend: Digital medicines
NHS England has opened a secondary care medicines data pre-market engagement, with high level objectives around achieving a reporting function on stock and daily issuance of medicines in secondary care, and a price comparison tool. With a total value of £6.75 million, the preliminary market engagement notice shares details of plans to secure capability and related tooling for the processing of data from hospital pharmacy systems, along with associated licensing and implementation support.
The board of South West Yorkshire Partnership Teaching NHS Foundation Trust has highlighted work on digital medicines. On its medicines optimisation and pharmacy framework for 2026-31, the board commits to making pharmaceutical care safer, more equitable, digitally enabled, and fully integrated across the system. It aims that ePMA and electronic transfer of prescriptions to community pharmacy will support safer care and improve outcomes, allowing clinicians to spend more time on face-to-face interactions with patients. “It will also allow us to access data previously unavailable and enable us to use a data driven approach to addressing health inequalities, targeting diverse or deprived populations,” it adds.
An EPR tool offering a calculator and clinical decision support for safer medicines management has launched at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. The Anticholinergic Medication Index (ACMI) tool aims to support prescribers and pharmacists assess patient anticholinergic burden in patients aged 65 and over in inpatient and day case settings. Integrated directly into the EPR, the trust shares that the tool has the capability to automatically update ACMI scores when an anticholinergic medication is prescribed or changed, using a scoring system based on 88 “commonly prescribed” medicines.
