Barts' blood unit goes paperless

The clinical haematology unit at Barts Health NHS Trust is close to being paper free, with about 95% of patient interactions recorded in Cerner Millennium.

The electronic patient record went live at Barts and the London NHS Trust in April 2008 by local service provider BT as part of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

The trust later merged with Newham Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital to form Barts Health.

The haematology centre started investigating a move to a paperless environment from January 2010. When it moved to new premises a year later, paper files were left behind.

All patients with blood disorders now have their diagnosis flagged on the front screen of Millennium so emergency staff know how to deal with them appropriately.

Haemotology staff are expected to electronically record all interactions with patients in Millennium PowerChart, including emails and telephone calls.

This allows all authorised users to access the same up-to-date information when dealing with patients.

Consultant haematologist Dr Dan Hart estimates this is being done about 95% of the time.

“It cuts down time wasted with patients in clinic because we know immediately what patients are there for,” Dr Hart said.

“It helps with junior doctor training too, as I can see what they have got in the clinical notes and what advice they have given to patients.”

Despite the successful shift to electronic working, Dr Hart said it was a constant challenge to keep up momentum.

Across the trust there are 8,000 beds and every day 16,000 patient charts are opened within the Millennium system.

Fellow consultant haematologist Dr Charles Gutteridge said the most frequent reason for opening a chart is to request a lab test or look at results.

“Another great bit of functionality is that some of the legacy information held in the old records is available electronically through the Millennium platform,” he explained.

Barts Health is using the Millennium patient administration system, PowerChart, order communications, A&E, maternity and theatre systems.

Read more about eHealth Insider's recent visit to Barts to see Millennium in use in the haematology unit in Insight.