Merseyside chooses JAC for e-prescribing

The North Mersey Health Informatics Service (HIS) has selected JAC to provide an electronic prescribing and medicines administration system (EPMA) to more than three million patients across Merseyside.

JAC will provide the software for the roll-out and help the Informatics Service with implementation of the new system.

The e-prescribing and medicines management system will be implemented across the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and Aintree University Hospital Foundation Trust.

Aintree aim to go live with the new system by end of 2010, while Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital aim to begin piloting use of the system by spring of next year.

The system is being implemented to help reduce medical errors, provide patient specific alerts such as allergy alerts, reduce paper work and transcriptions and improve audit tails for prescribing and medicines administration.

The trusts will also be able to use EPMA auditing and reporting tools to help key workers monitor prescribing and infection protocols more quickly and accurately.

Derek Swanson, deputy director of pharmacy at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen NHS Trust told E-Health Insider: “We have wanted to move to an electronic system for about five years. We looked at the market and most of the EPMAs are geared towards the US, whereas JAC’s was specifically developed for the NHS so that was a key driver.”

North Mersey HIS, an NHS shared service providing IM&T services to trusts across North Mersey, is already working in partnership with trusts colleagues to support the implementation.

Swanson said of the local Informatics Service: “The HIS has a contract with us to provide many aspects of IM&T. We will be looking for resource and help from an IT perspective, advice on how we can use the software on mobile devices and importantly business change management.

“This is going to be a big big business change project which will change the way that everyone works.”

Robert Tysall-Blay, chief executive of JAC, said: “The hospitals of the North Mersey HIS consortium are long standing and valued clients of JAC, so we are especially pleased to have been selected as their partner for delivering integrated medicines management services across the Trusts."

“The roll-out of EPMA will further advance the already high standards of patient care at these sites and we look forward to being part of this highly significant project.”

Birmingham’s Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust also selected to roll-out JAC’s software earlier this year.

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