Yeovil Hospital NHS Trust aims to go paperless to improve patient care and save up to £27.5 million

Yeovil Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is aiming to go paperless and deliver safer and more effective patient healthcare, the CIO of the Trust says.

Chief Information Officer Jason Maclellan said the transition will give a “complete view” of the patient journey and will “enhance clinical functionality” through the use of electronic notes and prescriptions.

Some £27.5 million of benefits are expected at Yeovil Hospital alone, now that previously separate patient information systems have been replaced with TrakCare.

The paperless system will make it easier for staff and patients to communicate through “one source of information” on the patient’s healthcare records CIO Maclellan said. The Trust is currently in phase two of the transition which will give staff a better overview of the hospital as part of it’s digital transformation.

“The patient handover between departments now flows more efficiently and creates a greater opportunity of improving of the staff and patient face time,” Maclellan added.

The process towards going paperless was not “easy” and affected almost everybody in the hospital, but Maclellan insists the technology works well and has made a “smoother transition” with a “notable difference” to the Trust.

“On the wards we have been pleasantly surprised on how few challenges there have been where we have just run with the programme,” he said.

Yeovil hospital’s collaboration with TrackCare is fairly new in England but has been used in several countries. Chief Clinical Information Officer Dr Anthony Smith said the system has been tailored to English NHS standards.

Smith’s role as CCIO sees him support the digital team in IT projects and aligning technology and the patient care with the Trust’s overall strategy.

“Technology is rapidly changing and it is rewarding to be part of something which is benefitting the Trust, patients and staff,” Smith said. “We have got the support of the board and the culture of the NHS is generally moving towards IT being able to change the way we work.”

Chief Information Officer Maclellan added that the hospital’s main focus was healthcare delivery and working to “improve the Trust’s patient health service and staff efficiency” for Somerset as a whole.