{"id":5485,"date":"2024-08-02T13:06:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T13:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/?p=5485"},"modified":"2024-08-02T13:06:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T13:06:54","slug":"prioritise-patient-safety-design-rollout-epr-systems-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/prioritise-patient-safety-design-rollout-epr-systems-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Prioritise patient safety in design and rollout of EPR systems: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from Patient Safety Learning, a charity and independent voice for improving patient safety, has called for changes to the process of developing and rolling out electronic patient record (EPR) systems, emphasising greater prioritisation of patient safety and experience. The report, Electronic patient record systems: Putting patient safety at the heart of implementation<\/em><\/a>, is based upon the observations and insights from a group of experts convened for a roundtable in June 2024 by Patient Safety Learning.<\/p>\n

EPR systems collate patient data, including medical history, test results, clinicians\u2019 observations and prescribed medications, from various sources, making it easier for healthcare professionals to access patient information. EPRs can vary from covering a single GP surgery, a single specialty area, or multiple areas within an NHS Trust serving hundreds of thousands of patients.<\/p>\n

Their introduction into the NHS was identified as a key priority in the Department for Health and Social Care\u2019s 2022 policy paper, A plan for digital health and social care<\/em><\/a>, and as of November 2023, 90 per cent of NHS trusts had introduced an EPR.<\/p>\n

However, the report outlines that there are significant patient safety risks associated with planning, implementing and using EPRs, as well as concerns around incident reporting.<\/p>\n

The report explores several instances where avoidable harm has occurred due to poor implementation or usage of EPR systems. These include an example where a four-year-old received 10 times the intended dose of a coagulant on five separate occasions due to an undetected prescription error recorded on a medicines EPR system. Another incident, which resulted in a National Patient Safety Alert being issued in 2023, occurred when an EPR system being used in the maternity departments of at least 15 NHS trusts was found to be overwriting existing patient record data with new information and displaying incorrect safeguarding data, putting maternity patients at risk.<\/p>\n

In another case from February 2024, a Coroner\u2019s Prevention of Future Deaths report highlighted how a new EPR system contributed to the death of Emily Kate Harkleroad, a 31-year-old woman who died of a pulmonary embolism after delays in treatment at Country Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. The report found that \u201cerrors and delays in [her] medical treatment resulted in her not receiving the anticoagulant treatment that she needed, and which would, on a balance of probabilities, have prevented her death.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report offers ten principles for consideration for the safe implementation of EPR systems:<\/p>\n