Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (FT) is one of 12 trusts that has been named by Government as a Global Digital Exemplar in the NHS. The trust will receive up to £10 million of funding over the next two years to pioneer digital excellence and share best practice.
Recognised for its digital maturity and innovative digital health initiatives, the trust, which runs Musgrove Park Hospital, will be given the financial backing and support to fast track its plans to become world class in its digital deployments; using technology to help staff achieve higher efficiencies, enable better organisational workflows and deliver better patient care.
This includes ensuring that all systems across Somerset are interfaced, so that clinicians and healthcare professionals across the community have information and data at their fingertips. Patients will also be able to view and add to their patient record, seeing hospital test results, for example, at the touch of a button.
Dr Sam Barrell, chief executive at the trust, said: “We are thrilled to have been chosen, as it means we can really press ahead with bringing our NHS technology into the digital age.
"This work is ultimately about improving patient care and improving the patient experience, making healthcare as accessible as everything else that people do online in their everyday lives."
Less than 12 months ago the trust deployed openMAXIMS, an open source electronic patient record (EPR) system in A&E, theatres, outpatients, and the hospital's 30 wards. It was the trust's first step in a much bigger programme to become paper-lite by 2018 and deliver a fully interoperable digital healthcare community in Somerset.
The functionally-rich technology provided by pioneering company IMS MAXIMS was chosen by Taunton and Somerset because it offered a flexible, cost effective alternative to proprietary software. The trust had access to £45 million worth of software development without the need for a license fee and it gave more control over how the system was deployed. The trust also recognised the future benefit to the NHS overall, from being able to develop, then share changes or improvements to the software with other NHS trusts, in turn taking advantage of economies of scale.
At the forefront of Taunton and Somerset's digital roadmap in the next two years are open standards, shared pathways of care, reciprocal views and data sharing, ePrescribing, data analytics and the use of mobile devices and apps. This will ensure clinicians have real time access to accurate information wherever and whenever they need, and provides the tools to empower patients to take control over their healthcare.
Shane Tickell, chief executive of IMS MAXIMS, said: "We are absolutely delighted for Taunton and Somerset. This is a significant milestone for them and the NHS. Their visionary approach to digital transformation has proven the value of an open source hospital system in regards to delivering better people productivity, improved patient outcomes and financial sustainability. And the recognition from government sends a clear signal about the important role this approach has to play in enabling the NHS to become digitally world class.
"The financial investment provided by the Digital Exemplar Programme over the next two years will allow Taunton and Somerset to reach its optimum digital capabilities, including deploying exciting software advancements such as medicine management, and data sharing and analytics. It also puts them on course to deploy software that achieves the long-term goal of personalised medicine; predicting and preventing rather than reacting and treating patients."
About Musgrove Park Hospital is part of Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
It is situated in Somerset and serves a population of over 340,000 as well as providing some specialist and tertiary services for the whole of Somerset with a catchment population of 544,000. Each year over 41,000 patients are admitted as emergencies; nearly 9,000 patients are admitted for elective surgery; nearly 34,000 are seen for day case surgery; 315,500 patients attend outpatient clinics; 56,000 attend our emergency department, 235,000 diagnostic imaging examinations take place, and nearly 3,400 babies are born in the Maternity Department. Over 300 adults and children are admitted to our intensive care and high dependency units.
Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has an annual budget of nearly £246.7 million. The hospital has nearly 600 beds, 30 wards, 15 operating theatres, a fully equipped diagnostic imaging department and a purpose built cancer treatment centre which includes outpatient, chemotherapy day care, radiotherapy and inpatient facilities. The Trust employs over 4,000 staff.
About IMS MAXIMS
IMS MAXIMS is a pioneering clinical technology provider committed to improving the coordination of patient care in healthcare environments.
Its expert team works in partnership with healthcare organisations to identify and deliver tailored, sustainable information sharing technology solutions supporting the provision of safer and more efficient care for current and future generations.
The organisation's 30-year history of collaborating with clinicians has resulted in the development of proven, flexible, user-friendly, safe and interoperable open source electronic patient record software.
It is used across 180 UK and Irish healthcare organisations and by 30,000 users each day to provide clinically-led technology solutions for over 13 million patients.