New patient administration system at Southend University Hospital
28 November 2013
Health Care
Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is moving to a new patient administration system (PAS) over the weekend commencing Friday 29 November.
The PAS records and stores patient information and is key to
everyday working at the hospital; it is also used to manage
accident and emergency, outpatients, inpatients and waiting
lists.
The new Medway PAS system, provided by System C / McKesson, was
selected following a rigorous procurement process and is already in
use in a number of large acute hospital trusts. It will be the
first step towards an electronic patient record where all the
patient's medical history, procedures and treatments will be kept
together in one place to give clinicians a complete picture.
Project manager, Dona Shine said: "The project team have been
working together for over a year to customise and test Medway, as
well as moving almost one million patient records from the current
TotalCare PAS to the new Medway system.
"Operational staff from all areas of the hospital have been
involved in four phases of user testing to ensure the new system
works as required and we are delighted that it is now ready for
live use."
Work to introduce the new Medway PAS will start at lunchtime on
Friday 29 November and continue over the weekend. During this time
patients will be unable to book appointments through the hospital
call centre; the Choose and Book system will also be unavailable.
Normal service will resume from 8am on Monday 2 December.
The accident and emergency department will be the first area to
start operational use on the morning of Sunday 1 December, with
inpatient areas following later in the day. Outpatient areas will
begin using the new system on Monday 2 December.
Dona added: "We are aiming to make the transition to the new
system to be a smooth one with minimal disruption. However those
attending the hospital for outpatient appointments over the next
couple of weeks may have to wait a bit longer than usual to be
booked in, but this should only be temporary and we thank you in
advance for your understanding."