Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) has been recognised for its advances in digital technology to provide high quality patient care via its eHospital digital programme, by the American Hospital Association (AHA), which represents about 5,000 US hospitals and health care systems.
Earning the AHA’s Most Wired moniker is the latest in a string of honours for CUH’s digital overhaul which has already freed up more than 4,500 clinical appointments, in one department alone.
Dr Afzal Chaudhry, Chief Medical Information Officer and Renal Consultant at CUH, said the recognition shows the trust is using technology to provide consistently high care to its patients.
He said: “A key part of the eHospital programme is the Epic electronic patient record system which is used concurrently by 3,200 clinical staff, at peak times.
“Epic brings together all clinical and administrative information about each of our patients, in one electronic system, recorded in real-time on mobile and handheld devices.
“So when a patient arrives for an appointment, as an emergency, or is admitted, the team caring for that patient can see their medical record in its entirety, wherever and whenever they need to.”
Introduced in 2014, the system has reduced paper patient records by 99% and halved the time it takes to prepare discharge medications, freeing up much needed beds earlier.
The system has also cut 4,500 appointments in orthopaedics by allowing clinicians to view x-rays digitally and saves almost £1 million a year by reducing adverse reactions to prescriptions.
The AHA accolade comes after CUH was named as the ‘best place to work in digital – large organisations’ during the July 6 Digital Technology Leaders Awards, for private and public sectors.
Judges described the eHospital programme, implemented across both Addenbrooke’s and The Rosie hospitals, as “a beacon to the rest that shows what can and should be achieved by using digital technology”.
Two days earlier CUH was highly commended for its use of IT in improving patient safety in the national Patient Safety Awards.
Meanwhile, the government’s national advisory group report stated “CUH’s digital maturity was the highest of any of the trusts visited.”
Dr Jag Ahluwalia, Medical Director and Executive Lead for eHospital at CUH, said: “Winning awards is great but the most exciting thing about the eHospital programme is that there are still so many things it can do to improve patient care. We have only just scratched the surface.
“Like any major change, our digital transformation has had its challenges, but CUH is now leading the way in terms of hospital tech and the advances made here are set to benefit the entire NHS.”
Dr Zafar Chaudry, Chief Information Officer at CUH, added: “These accolades put us at the forefront of digital healthcare technology innovation on a global scale, and rank us among an elite group of global healthcare leaders that use real-time digital healthcare systems to significantly improve patient care, safety and provide high quality patient care.”
About Most Wired
CUH will receive a Most Wired winner’s plaque following the Health Forum and AHA Leadership Summit Most Wired recognition event at the end of July. The full list of winners is available at www.hhnmag.com with detailed results of the survey and study published in the July issue of H&HN.
The accolade recognises hospitals that are advancing digital technology to benefit patients and staff; from improved safety and communication to security, infrastructure and the use of data and analytics to transform care.
Most Wired hospitals are those that use sophisticated IT monitoring systems to prevent patient privacy breaches, monitor for any malicious cyber activities and produce real-time analysis of security alerts. They are also hospitals that are transforming care delivery with knowledge gained from data and analytics, having invested in analytics to support new care delivery models and effective decision-making and trained clinicians on how to use analytics to improve quality.
The award follows a survey, conducted between January and March 2017, which is published annually by Health & Hospitals Network (H&HN). The 2017 Most Wired survey and benchmarking study is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide. The survey of 698 participants, representing an estimated 2,158 hospitals – more than 39% of all hospitals in the U.S. – examines how organisations are leveraging IT to improve performance for value-based healthcare in the areas of infrastructure; business and administrative management; quality and safety; and clinical integration.
About Cambridge University Hospitals
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) is one of the largest and best known hospitals in the country, delivering high-quality patient care through Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals. CUH is a leading national centre for specialist treatment for rare or complex conditions and a university teaching hospital with a worldwide reputation. CUH is a key partner in Cambridge University Health Partners (CUHP), one of only six academic health science centres in the UK, and is at the heart of the development of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC), which brings together on one site world-class biomedical research, patient care and education. www.cuh.org
About eHospital
In October 2014, CUH implemented the Epic electronic patient record system across both its hospitals, as part of its eHospital digital transformation programme. The Epic system brings all clinical and administrative information relating to a patient in one place, recorded in real time, improving quality, reducing duplication and eliminating unnecessary delays to patient care. It is used in both inpatient and outpatient areas and spans all major clinical areas: A&E, wards, critical care, outpatient clinics, surgery, pharmacy, laboratory, and radiology services. Typically there is 3,200 concurrent clinical staff accessing the system at peak times. Benefits to date include: halving the time it takes to prepare discharge medications; every inpatient having a barcoded wristband which links to their medical record in Epic to improve safety; real-time information recorded in the system at a patient bedside on handheld and mobile devices; clinicians viewing notes and x-rays virtually, freeing up 4,500 clinic appointment slots in orthopaedics; and allergy-related prescribing alerts in the system reducing adverse medical reactions, saving approximately £0.98 million a year. CUH is the first NHS Trust to implement a digital programme of this kind or scale, and the first to achieve Stage 6 of the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society’s (HIMSS) international Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) within a year of an electronic patient record system going live. www.cuh.org.uk/ehospital