896 
↓Article continues below this sponsored advert↓
Explore the latest advances in respiratory care at events delivered by renowned experts from CofE
↑Advertisement↑
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) has signed contracts with HP and Epic to transform patient services through an innovative, clinician-led IT system.
eHospital will enable clinical and front-line staff at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie hospitals to access all relevant patient information whenever and wherever they need it.
Epic will supply the software and systems and HP will deliver the hardware and infrastructure throughout the hospitals.
The new system will support clinical decisions, lead to better prescribing and improved patient communications, and more effective management of hospital services. In future patients will be able to go online to access their medical records.
The eHospital programme will involve an expenditure of £200 million over the next 10 years and will provide world-class clinical information systems on modern, fast, accessible and reliable computer platforms fit for the future.
Dr Keith McNeil, CUH chief executive, said: “This is the most significant decision the hospital has made in recent times, and one which is incredibly exciting and will help transform the way we deliver care to our patients.
“eHospital is about putting our patients – their outcomes and safety – first, and always. We cannot continue to deliver the highest quality of care to our patients unless we invest in technology to enable us to transform our services.
“Our patients will see significant benefits as we will be able to care for them in a safer and more effective way, spend more time with them and, very importantly, they will be able to be much more involved in their own care.
“All-in-all the new computer system will make life simpler for staff and safer for patients. eHospital will make the right thing the easy thing to do.
“The whole of the NHS recognises that improving the safety and quality of patient care is paramount and our eHospital programme will show just how these sorts of technologies can enable us to deliver the highest standards of healthcare.”
Howard Hughes, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise Service – Europe, Middle East and Africa, HP, said: “When dealing with human lives, technology should be an enabler rather than a roadblock. This Trust is already at the forefront of innovative patient treatment, and now the HP team will combine its healthcare expertise with proven solutions to build a robust infrastructure to support the hospitals’ high standards of clinical excellence and improve patient outcomes.”
eHospital will deliver clinical information and decision support systems, a wholly integrated electronic patient record and the supporting technology and infrastructure.
Papworth Hospital, who have partnered with CUH in the procurement, will participate in the design process so that they may join the implementation in due course.
The programme is expected to start delivering tangible benefits within 12 months and the electronic patient record is planned to be operational by late 2014.
