Rotherham health trust funding boost

Patients and healthcare workers in Rotherham are set to benefit from a £750k investment in technology .
750k funding boost for technology at Rotherham health Trust750k funding boost for technology at Rotherham health Trust
750k funding boost for technology at Rotherham health Trust

The Health Minister Stephen Hammond, recently announced that The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust is one of an initial group of 13 Trusts who are receiving a share of £78million national funding.

The funding will be used to set up a new electronic prescription system and will speed up the introduction of technology which aims to improve patient safety and provide better quality care.

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The new electronic system, known as electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA), will see a move from hand written prescriptions to electronic prescriptions and will help greatly with reducing medication errors.

The new system will improve access to information on prescribed medication, at the point of patient care. It will support with choice of best medicines for the clinical condition, for the patient and for the NHS in terms of cost. It will also ensure greater consistency between primary and secondary care settings.

Health Minister Stephen Hammond said: 'As part of the long-term plan for the NHS, we not only want to harness technology to make it one of the most advanced healthcare systems in the world, but crucially to improve patient care.

'The funding provided for these trusts will help to drive these changes to the patient experience, but will also aid our hard-working and dedicated staff.

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'The introduction of electronic prescribing is not only known to reduce medication errors, but also frees up time for staff by moving away from archaic paper-based systems.'

Speaking about the funding Dr Callum Gardner, Interim Medical Director at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: 'This funding will enable us to continue improving the care and services we provide to our patients, whilst ensuring they are as safe and effective as possible.

'The new system will also see wider benefits being felt across our organisation with improved processes being implemented which will free up health workers' time which can be spent looking after our patients.'

The Trust has committed to the aim of having 80 per cent of inpatient prescribing and administration electronic by 2020.