£9.4m system to digitise health records

Sunday 24 October 2021

A new £9.4m system to electronically store patient records is coming to Jersey’s health services to help give quicker access to records and keep them up to date.

The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) will replace the existing system currently used by Health and Community services, and remove a dependence on paper files.

The system is being implemented with IMS MAXIMS, an Irish and UK based supplier, which was selected by more than 50 clinicians within the Health and Community Services (HCS) Department.

The Government hopes the system will help doctors diagnose patients more effectively and reduce errors, provide up-to-date information that can be shared in a secure way, and give quick access to records.

The system will plug into the new electronic prescription system - officially known as the Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) - which they are aiming to have working across services by the first half of 2022.

Pictured: Health and Community Services say the new system will make accessing records quicker for medical workers.

Chief Pharmacist Patrick McCabe previously told Express the EPMA should result in savings of £250,000 a year in addition to "significant quality and safety improvements."

Digital Nurse, Ricardo Da Silva, said of the new EPR: "This is a much-needed initiative that will not only facilitate sharing across the Government's health services, but ensure that requirements of the E-Health and Our Hospital Project are met.

"We have done a lot of work with the people within HCS who will be using this system and they have told us that they find the system accessible and easy to use.

"As we digitise our services, the benefits to islanders will be felt by having easy online access to their health data, care plans, medications, clinical results and scheduling management."