The 2010 Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists/United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association Information Technology Award has been won by Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust (SUHT) for the development of an electronic discharge summary application (eDischarge). First DataBank, who sponsored the Award, presented a cheque for £2,500 at the GHP/UKCPA Annual Seminar in Birmingham on 6 October.
Electronic discharge is highly topical at present as hospitals face increasing pressure to deliver timely and accurate discharge data and have had national contractual obligations placed on them to deliver discharge summaries within 48 hours by April 2009 and 24 hours by April 2010.
Recent indications from the NHS Alliance* are that large numbers of NHS trusts are still failing to meet the 24 hour requirement, with many also missing the 48 hour deadline. It is fitting then that the GHP/UKCPA IT Award winner should focus on a success story in this important area of patient care and clinical reporting.
Sharron Millen, Head of Clinical Pharmacy at SUHT advised; "The development of the eDischarge system has had significant benefits to the workflow within the pharmacy service. The system allows easy access to identify patients for discharge and removes the need for transport to the individual dispensaries."
"The pharmacy department has invested a large amount of time with technology partners Ascribe Ltd designing and developing the system to ensure the application met the needs of the pharmacy service and the Trust."
SUHT found that through the implementation of its eDischarge system the average length of time for a simple e-discharge was approximately 8-9 minutes.
Feedback from the ten GP surgeries currently receiving the eDischarge documents has been excellent with obvious benefits in the clarity and legibility of the prescription and promptness of delivery post patient discharge. The patient also receives a clear copy of the eDischarge document upon discharge which has been widely welcomed as a significant improvement on the handwritten carbonised paper copy in use previously.
* Discharge information 4th survey Jan 2010, NHS Alliance
Related news articles:
- First DataBank's Profile
About First DataBank
First DataBank is the UK's leading provider of drug knowledge bases and active clinical decision support. With over 30 years' experience of maintaining, developing and integrating drug knowledge bases across the entire healthcare spectrum, First DataBank has unrivalled expertise and knowledge in this specialist field. NHS Connecting for Health has chosen First DataBank to provide drug-related clinical decision support.
Patient safety is the driving force behind our business. Through the effective integration of our products into clinical systems, we enable safer prescribing, dispensing and administration.
Our Multilex Drug Data File - the UK's most comprehensive and widely used drug knowledge base - is in daily use by thousands of healthcare professionals in the UK.
For further information visit www.firstdatabank.co.uk
About GHP
GHP exists to defend the interests of individual employed pharmacists working in hospitals, primary care and other healthcare institutions for both the NHS and commercial healthcare providers throughout the UK. In times of great change and challenge, membership of GHP provides the individual pharmacist with a powerful voice, locally, nationally and across the UK. Our three main strands of work are:
About UKCPA
The UKCPA promotes expert practice in medicines management for the benefit of patients, the public and members by establishing standards, workforce development and advancing innovation in all health care settings.
The UKCPA encourages Excellence, Leadership and Partnership.