May the 4th be with you! 100 days away and counting...

West Middlesex Hospital prepares for the launch of a new, ambitious digital patient records system  

Patient recordkeeping will be transformed on the 4th of May with the introduction of a new digital database at West Middlesex Hospital, part of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Rob Hodgkiss, Chief Operating Officer at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, said: “Our patients deserve and expect the very best. So we are investing in EPR, Electronic Patient Records, and the latest technology to ensure our patient data is accurate, safe and enables us to continue to deliver the highest quality care.”

The merger of Chelsea and Westminster and West Middlesex hospitals in 2015 gave both West London hospitals the opportunity to update processes and systems. The planned introduction of Electronic Patient Records (EPR) will mean staff will no longer have to log in and out of different systems as the information required will all be in one place. The technology and support will be provided by Cerner, the international market leader in IT healthcare solutions.

The new digital database will be rolled out at West Middlesex hospital from the 4th of May, and Chelsea and Westminster will follow next year. “The staggered introduction is to ensure any changes will have minimal impact on our patients. The IT and hospital teams are working hard to guarantee a seamless transition from the old to the new system,” said West Middlesex Hospital Director, Tina Benson.  

Cerner EPR will go live in several phases at West Middlesex, starting with patient administration and followed by modules for the emergency department and operating theatres. Rob Hodgkiss, Chief Operating Officer said: “Ultimately we will have one single system across the whole Trust which will give us better data collection, analysis and drive improvements for patients and clinicians.”

The completion of EPR across both hospitals is expected by the end of 2019.