Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) has partnered with Civica as part of a new five-year contract to deploy the ePMA software, Civica Prescribing.
The trust will implement Civica Prescribing as part of its long-term integrated health and social care strategy, supporting the Government’s pledge to provide £75m extra to trusts to help bring in ePMA systems which save money, give clinicians more time with patients, and reduce medication errors by up to 50% when compared with paper systems.
Formed in 2006, KMPT provides secondary mental health services on behalf of eight local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), Kent County Council, and NHS Specialist Commissioning, both in the community and within inpatient settings.
Civica Prescribing offers an intuitive and easy-to-use platform which can be specifically tailored to our needs, alongside the integration and flexibility needed to support our long-term development plan
It required a safe and intuitive ePMA system with specific mental health functionality, allowing clinicians to prescribe and administer medications electronically rather than via handwritten charts/prescriptions or faxed notes.
Civica Prescribing is a comprehensive ePMA solution for mental health which transforms the current manual process and improves outcomes.
Incorporating robust safety mechanisms to prevent medication errors, it delivers precise patient information and decision support.
And the system will ultimately safeguard patients by mitigating potential errors and streamlining the prescribing and administration process, while maintaining patient confidentiality.
The solution complies with NICE guidelines, Clinical Safety Standards and is also CE1 registered under the Medical Device Directive providing KMPT with the highest level of clinical safety assurance.
Civica Prescribing will integrate with the trust’s existing Patient Administration System: through sharing patient information between systems. This integration will avoid duplication of effort, increase operational efficiency, and improve patient safety.
And these benefits extend beyond the trust to the wider health economy as it will facilitate the sharing of medication history with GP’s through electronic discharge notifications and other healthcare providers via the Kent and Medway Care Record.
Technology, software and automation are key enablers to increase safety and drive efficiencies across the NHS
Karen Bartlett, advanced clinical pharmacist and prescribing lead at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust said: “Civica Prescribing offers an intuitive and easy-to-use platform which can be specifically tailored to our needs, alongside the integration and flexibility needed to support our long-term development plan.”
Steve Brain, executive director of health and care at Civica, added: “Technology, software and automation are key enablers to increase safety and drive efficiencies across the NHS.
“Civica Prescribing will provide KMPT with a number of safety and operational benefits to support both its local and national strategic integrated health objectives.
“We are delighted to be partnering with the trust to advance its electronic prescribing and support its vision to drive digital transformation, optimise medicine management and provide the best patient care.”
