The Department of Health and Social Care has awarded a further £15.93 million to 16 NHS trusts in England in order to introduce digital prescribing systems.
It said the trusts would be able to end the use of paper-based prescribing, improving safety by reducing errors and saving staff time.
The awards are the fourth wave of £78 million of funding designed to introduce digital prescribing across the NHS by 2024. Since 2018, 216 NHS trusts have received money from the fund, with £8.7 million awarded in September 2020.
Among those receiving new funding are four trusts awarded £1.49 million: Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, Medway NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust receives £1.42 million and West London Mental Health NHS Trust £1.31 million.
“We are determined to make the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world,” said Nadine Dorries, minister for patient safety. “The introduction of digital prescribing systems has helped us reduce potentially deadly medication errors and save our hard-working staff valuable time, enabling them to dedicate their full attention and care to patients.”
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust received £1.6 million in 2018’s first round of funding to help introduce eMeds, its digital prescribing system. “eMeds has revolutionised prescribing and improved medicines safety across the trust, and a number of benefits have been realised including high staff satisfaction levels, greater visibility of prescriptions and reduced prescribing errors,” said Dr Paul Curley, the trust’s deputy medical director.
Image from iStock, BrianAJackson
