Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust goes digital with the launch of electronic prescribing
Date added: 29 April 2022
We have gone live with a roll out to replace paper-based prescriptions with electronic prescribing.
The electronic prescribing and medicines administration system (EPMA), which has been created by Civica Prescribing, will improve patient safety and efficiency in the medicine management process by reducing the risk of medication errors, ensuring fast access to potentially lifesaving information and reducing duplication of information gathering. It has been funded by NHS Improvement (NHSI).
The system is running at Rivendell rehabilitation unit, an inpatient unit in East Kent. Clinical staff have precise and immediate access to patient information for clinical decisions and outcomes.
Civica provides the application software and technical support for implementation.
Sheila Stenson, executive director at KMPT said: “We want to harness technology to improve patient care, which is a key part of the NHS long-term plan. The funding to introduce electronic prescribing will help us reduce errors and free up valuable staff time by moving away from outdated paper-based systems.
“We are delighted to have introduced this in one of our inpatient units and we can see already that it is making a real difference and supports our vision to deliver brilliant care, through brilliant people. We plan to roll this out further across the Trust so that others can benefit too.”
Electronic prescribing and medicines administration system (EPMA)
EPMAs enhance operational productivity as there is improved communication of real-time information between prescribers, pharmacy and clinical staff. This helps to streamline operational and clinical processes as staff no longer have to use paper drug charts as prescribing, administration and pharmacy reviews will be recorded on EPMA instead. Electronic records are accessible from multiple locations to enable data to be accessed simultaneously by multiple clinicians for administration, review and audit. EPMA reduces the time it takes to prescribe, check, supply and administer inpatient drugs. Time is saved by not having to create, search for and retrieve drug charts. It also supports partnership working as provides the platform for the transfer for electronic prescriptions to pharmacies, thereby improving access to medications for patients and reducing staff time for the ordering process.
