New electronic prescription service will improve patient experience and safety, while strengthening clinical decision-making

Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset has formed a partnership with CGI, Marand and Apperta Foundation that will help both patients and healthcare professionals by delivering an e-Prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) solution to increase the quality of care. The solution will improve patient outcomes, automate medicine management, improve the patient discharge process and strengthen clinical decision support. Crucially, it will reduce medicine related harm resulting from prescribing and administration errors.

The implementation of the ePMA system in Musgrove Park Hospital will provide improvements to both patients and healthcare professionals. It will replace time-consuming manual prescription and medication administration processes, freeing up clinicians to spend more time providing care to patients.

The elimination of the transcription of medicines lists between paper charts and the real-time remote access to patient medication records will enable healthcare professionals to have more time available for direct patient care. Digital clinical support tools will aid clinical teams in improving prescribing and administration safety by reducing avoidable medication errors. The capture and transfer of complete, unambiguous, standardised medicines lists between systems and care settings will mean more accurate and timely medicines summaries are sent to GPs and will enable a quicker discharge process for patients and their families. These proposed benefits will not only improve patient safety but also save the Trust money.

The solution will leverage Marand’s ePMA system, OPENeP, which is built on open standards. Data can be shared and received, regardless of supplier, to link up healthcare systems and create a final true patient record using the Think!EHR PlatformTM. Clinicians at Musgrove Park are directly involved in the development of the Marand OPENeP medication management system, working under the custodianship of the Apperta Foundation.

The solution also supports the Government’s objective under Personalised Health and Care 2020 to ensure different technology systems interoperate, allowing data to flow seamlessly under the appropriate controls.

David Chalkley, deputy chief clinical information officer at Musgrove Park Hospital said: “We are pleased to partner with CGI for the implementation of the Marand OPENeP e-Prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) solution. We believe that this world class application will deliver significant patient safety gains, improve patient outcomes, support the delivery of better care and lower care costs. CGI has the experience, knowledge and expertise to support us delivering this key project and realising our Global Digital Exemplar vision for an ePMA integrated with the Electronic Patient Record.”

Paul Infante, VP of Health and Local Government at CGI UK commented: “With the government’s focus on e-Prescribing as a key area of investment, the role of technology to transform this industry continues. We are proud that we have the opportunity to partner with Musgrove Park Hospital on this exciting project to improve patient care. We look forward to continuing to take a key role in this market as it evolves.”

Anže Droljc, Head of Product Management for Clinical Applications at Marand commented: “We are looking forward to working with Musgrove Park Hospital, which has already demonstrated its commitment and ability to efficiently deliver exceptional care, through the use of world-class digital technology and information. We are proud that Marand is now a part of their effort for improvement.”

ABOUT CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firm in the world. With 74,000 professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from IT and business consulting to systems integration, outsourcing services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. With annual revenue of C$10.8 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com.

ABOUT MARAND

Marand is a company that constantly challenges existing state of IT solutions in healthcare, invests time and energy into acquiring new knowledge and experience, promotes innovation and teamwork with a single goal - to develop innovative and easy to use healthcare IT products that help care teams save patients' lives. Marand’s vision for healthcare IT is coined as "Integrate. Open. Innovate." Think!EHR Platform™ is well aligned with this vision as it uses IHE-based standards to integrate existing devices, systems and data. By storing data in an open, vendor-neutral format it enables ecosystems of vendors to innovate. This approach is fuelling next generation solutions known as the Postmodern EHR. Learn more at marand.com

ABOUT OPENEP

OPENeP is an innovative closed-loop medication management system that fully supports even the most complex medication management scenarios in a simple and easy to use way. Decision support for situations known as “never events”, allergies, and dose range, as well as powerful integration options, empower doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, allowing them to improve patient safety, and deliver better and more personalised medical care.

ABOUT APPERTA FOUNDATION

The Apperta Foundation is a not-for-profit, non-dividend paying community interest company founded by health professionals in 2015 and supported by NHS England and NHS Digital to improve technology in health and social care. We bring open products and services to market that truly transform the delivery of care for clinicians and patients. Learn more at http://apperta.org

NHS DIGITAL

NHS Digital is the national information and technology provider for the health and care system. Our team of information analysis, technology and project management experts create, deliver and manage the crucial digital systems, services, products and standards upon which health and care professionals depend. During the 2015/16 financial year, NHS Digital published 294 statistical reports. Our vision is to harness the power of information and technology to make health and care better. We provide ‘Information and Technology for better health and care’. Find out more about our role and remit at www.digital.nhs.uk NHS Digital support the development of Interoperable applications using open standards, open data and open APIs that will help improve care for patients.

CODE4HEALTH

Code4Health is an Apperta Foundation initiative supported by NHS England and NHS Digital to enable the best use of digital tools and technology to deliver safe, high quality, efficient and compassionate care. Code4Health aim to educate and inform all participants in the health and care community: citizens, patients, carers, health, care and digital professionals about the possibilities digital technologies provide and equip them with the tools, knowledge and skills to collaborate to develop and implement high quality digital solutions. Learn more at https://code4health.org