Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust have committed to major investments in their information technology, including a significant infrastructure programme and procurement of a new Electronic Patient Record (EPR).
Following a procurement exercise the Trust have chosen Cerner as their preferred supplier. Cerner will work in partnership with the Trust throughout the next stage of the programme as the Trust seeks investment approval and moves towards contract award.
Clinicians will be able to deliver better care for patients as they will be able to see information about a patient in one place including the patient's medical history and any allergies plus information from GPs and community professionals. The time saved by using the new electronic patient record will allow clinicians to spend more time with their patients.
The EPR will also enable patients to see their healthcare records through a patient portal and will allow better communication about appointments through secure online messaging.
The EPR system will reduce the volume of paper records that are needed, enabling the Trust to move towards being paper-free.
Cerner's offer includes EPR functionality for the Trust's Emergency Departments, Theatres, e-prescribing, clinical support, critical care, bed management and clinical documentation. Hosting, maintenance and support services, integration with community systems and project management for the implementation of the system are also part of the offer.
The Trust were impressed with their standard NHS model that will pre-build the system taking advantage of best practice design while still allowing local configuration, as well as the ability to integrate the system with community and GP systems.
Dr Pete Davies, Chief Clinical Information Officer for Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust said: "I wholeheartedly believe that selection of Cerner as our delivery partner is welcome news and this gives the EPR programme board great confidence that their approach will be a significant enabler towards achieving our vision. This is going to represent a quantum leap in our capacity to provide safer care, to reduce unnecessary variation and to improve patient experience."
Geoff Segal, Vice President & General Manager for Cerner UK and Ireland, said: "We're delighted that Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust selected Cerner to support their digital journey to enable better and safer care for their patients and community. We share the vision that transformation must be clinically led in order to achieve the best outcomes for patients and staff. Together we will focus on improving outcomes and delivering the best possible care to the local community."
The investment will require approval by NHS Improvement and implementation is expected to begin in August 2016 with full roll-out being completed by November 2017.
About Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is an integrated care organisation, dedicated to improving the lives of local people, to maintaining an outstanding reputation for teaching and education, and to embedding innovation and research. The Trust employs around 7,200 people and spends around £430m of public money, being responsible for the care of 530,000 local people from across North-West Birmingham and all the towns within Sandwell. The Trust provides compassionate, high quality care from City Hospital on Birmingham's Dudley Road, from Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich, from intermediate care hubs at Rowley Regis and at Leasowes in Smethwick, as well as around 150 locations in the community. The Trust includes the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre (a supra-regional eye hospital), as well as the Pan-Birmingham Gynae-Cancer Centre, our Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre, and the regional base for the National Poisons Information Service - all based at the City hospital site.
About Cerner Limited
Cerner's health information technologies connect people, information, and systems, at approximately 20,000 facilities worldwide. Recognised for innovation, Cerner solutions assist NHS Trusts and clinicians in making and documenting care decisions and enable organisations to manage the health of populations. The company provides clients with a wide range of in-house services, as well as an integrated clinical system to help organisations manage quality, outcomes and revenue.
Cerner's mission is to contribute to the systemic improvement of health care delivery and the health of communities. Nasdaq: CERN.