HEALTH and Community Services’ electronic-patient-record system will ‘launch in the first quarter of 2023’, a spokesperson has said.
It will replace the existing process, which relies on paper files. The £9.4 million project is being carried out by IMS MAXIMS, a healthcare supplier based in the UK and Ireland.
Issues with the current system made headlines last August, when a number of paper files at the Hospital went missing.
And last month, Reverend Philip Osborn – a retired United Reformed Church minister – said his cataract surgery had been called off and rescheduled at the last minute because his paper-based medical records had been ‘lost’.
He also claimed that a surgeon told him it was ‘not an isolated case’.
A HCS spokesperson said Mr Osborn’s records had not been ‘located in time’ to prevent the postponement of his operation, but added the introduction of EPR would help prevent similar problems.
Asked when the new system was set to launch, the spokesperson said: ‘A new electronic-patient-record system – IMS MAXIMS – is due to go live in the first quarter of next year.
‘Currently work is focused on reviewing the completeness and accuracy of existing data and then migrating the data to the new EPR system. During 2023 and 2024, work will focus on adding further and improved functionality to the EPR system.’
The spokesperson added: ‘The budget for the project remains £9.4 million.
‘The new system will improve patient experience and efficiency through better integration of data and the use of a single patient record for use by clinicians and administration staff.’
Existing patient records will be transferred to the new system, with some historic paper records moving to the government-wide electronic document management system that is set to digitise archives in all departments.
Clinical staff will be able to view Islanders’ recent records digitally through EPR, and retrieve archived records via the electronic-document-management system.
‘Digitising records is an important deliverable of the Jersey Care Model programme and the Digital Health Strategy programme,’ a government spokesperson said.
