Staff across Wye Valley NHS Trust's four hospitals and community facilities now have a single, shared view of their patients’ records following the deployment of their new electronic patient record (EPR) system. The trust's acute and community patient administration systems and theatre system have been replaced by IMS MAXIMS EPR - MAXIMS - delivering new functionality and flexibility to support the way staff treat and care for patients.
Using a single EPR system and accessing data in real-time will make it easier for doctors and nurses to make clinical decisions and oversee their patients’ care from anywhere in the trust. New functionality including a bespoke patient tracking tool will also help manage emergency admissions and streamline complex discharges, and an added community module is set to provide new and effective ways for district nurses to manage resources and caseload planning.
The EPR implementation is the culmination of more than 18 months of work by the trust and IMS MAXIMS, focused on scoping out the requirements, development testing and training. The final assignment involved the successful migration of more than 18 million records from the old acute and community patient administration systems.
The MAXIMS system is now responsible for handling more than 2,000 patient records a day. IMS MAXIMS compliance with NHS Digital's Personal Demographic Service means these records will be automatically updated with patient demographic data stored on the Spine, enabling greater accuracy of patients’ records.
Howard Oddy, Director of Finance and Information, said: “This is an important step forward for the trust and one we have been planning for some time.
"A great deal of effort has gone into making sure the launch was successful and we look forward to reaping the benefits of the new system in the coming weeks, months and years."
Wye Valley's go-live coincides with its appointment by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to become a 'fast follower' to Global Digital Exemplar (GDE), Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. Wye Valley will receive up to £5million from Government to make rapid progress in using technology to improve patient care. With both trusts using an open source EPR, they will benefit from developing and sharing enhancements with each other and a growing community of users in the NHS.
David Warden, Associate Director of Information Management and Technology at Wye Valley NHS Trust, said: "This is great news for our patients and staff. The appointment to become a Fast Follower means we can build on the good work achieved at go live and provide integrated care where information can securely and appropriately follow the patient.
"We're looking forward to continuing our work with Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and IMS MAXIMS as we enhance our digital maturity."
MAXIMS is being used across Wye Valley NHS Trust's acute and community estate. Key functionality includes patient admissions and discharge, referral management and triage, scheduling and appointment correspondence, case note tracking, referral to treatment pathways, real-time bed management and theatre management.
The go-live is the initial phase of the EPR’s implementation, with further phases for order communications and additional clinical functionality to be implemented during the next two years.
The trust has worked in partnership with IMS MAXIMS and other partners to successfully deliver the programme and will continue in this partnership to ensure its continued success and delivery of future functionality.
Shane Tickell, CEO, IMS MAXIMS, said: "It is an incredibly exciting time for Wye Valley Trust as they start to reap the benefits of using a single electronic patient record system to serve their patients across all trust's sites. There is a growing sense of confidence on site as staff use the software, with the support of our implementation team.
"We are delighted to be able to support the trust on its digital journey. We are also looking forward to working with them on mapping out how their appointment as a GDE Fast Follower will enable the trust, and their peers in the NHS, to share best practice at scale and pace for the benefit of patients."
About Wye Valley NHS Trust
Wye Valley NHS Trust is a provider of health services across Herefordshire and beyond. The trust exists to improve the wellbeing, independence and health of the people we serve. We are the leading provider of health care in Herefordshire.
By working closely with our partners, we can make good our promise to deliver a quality of care we would want for ourselves, our families and our friends.
With an estimated annual turnover of around £180 million, we employ around 2,700 plus staff. We aim to build new relationships between our staff, patients, service users and their carers with the wider community.
About IMS MAXIMS
IMS MAXIMS is an award-winning clinical technology specialist 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. With an ambition to meet today's healthcare challenges, IMS MAXIMS makes its software available without a licence fee and offers flexible options to support healthcare providers with implementation and maintenance.
Its open technology has increased collaboration in the development of the software which has resulted in better clinical engagement and empowerment across hospital wards and departments. Deployment times are fast, meaning clinicians and patients can benefit from efficiency and safety improvements in rapid time.