EPR exemplars nominated

Four acute trusts have been suggested as ‘EPR exemplars’ by EHI readers.

Commenters taking part in ‘The Hunt for EPR Exemplars’ have put forward; Chelsea and Westminster Hospital; University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire; University Hospital Southampton; and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS foundation trusts for consideration.

EHI launched The Hunt for EPR Exemplars last week, as the latest stage of The Big EPR Debate that it started in April.

The original debate was a response to health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s call for the NHS to adopt electronic records by 2015 and to go paperless by 2018.

It focused on how to define and build an electronic patient record and helped to shape the guidance for trusts applying to the £260m Technology Fund that was issued by NHS England this summer.

However, it also found that NHS IT managers and clinicians want to learn from the best. The Hunt for EPR Exemplars picks up on this by asking EHI readers what ‘the best’ looks like and which acute trusts exemplify it.

To get the debate started, we suggested that exemplars should have good IT overall and be known for using it to improve efficiency and patient care.

We put forward an initial list of five acute trusts that might do this; King’s College Hospital, Heart of England, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals, and University Hospital Birmingham NHS foundation trusts.

All of them score well on a Digital Clinical Maturity Index that EHI’s research arm, EHI Intelligence, has been developing, and that will be launched this autumn.

And all of them are known for their work on e-prescribing, scheduling, and observations. But we asked you what criteria should be used for an exemplar, and which trusts you might add.

Commenter alexgeddes suggested Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which has developed its IDX system over 20 years, because “there is very little it does not do for staff and patients in healthcare treatment and in patient and social services support.”

Bramcoteboy suggested University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire, because it has invested heavily in its in-house CCRS system “and firmly believes that it is an exemplar for closed loop results management.”

Responding to his own trust’s mention, Adrian Byrne, the IM&T director of University Hospital Southampton, flagged up its work building on a “solid” PAS and extending out to community records and a patient portal.

He also suggested other trusts might follow its model, if they were not in a position to implement an EPR from a single supplier.

Meanwhile, PeteMarsh was one of a couple of commenters to suggest Wirral University Teaching Hospital, on the grounds that it had both led the way with its PCIS EPR, then moved its functionality to Cerner, while developing “clinical warehousing that is second to none.”

Do you agree? All the exemplars will be featured on EHI’s news and Insight pages to help spread learning and best practice, so tell us which trusts you would nominate and why, using the comment button below.

You can also read more about the Hunt for EPR Exemplars, the debate, and the additional nominations in Insight.