Green light for Bristol EPR initiative

A multimillion pound deal to create a single electronic patient record (EPR) system for the Bristol area is due to be signed in the next three months.

A similar programme in Birmingham was cancelled last month because of national plans for patient records (Computing, 24 April). But the Pan-Bristol and Weston (PBW) consortium is going ahead and asking for final offers from the shortlisted suppliers SchlumbergerSema, McKesson and EDS.

The consortium is made up of four acute hospital trusts across Bristol and Weston-super-Mare.

The project requires a range of applications including patient administration systems, theatre management, test request and results software, GP access, bed management and on-ward electronic prescribing tools. Patients will have a single record accessing their information across all the applications.

The system will be a radical change for the better in how healthcare is delivered says Martin Bell, North Bristol NHS trust IT director and co-project director for the PBW procurement.

'It's all about joining up care across the community - patients move between hospitals and don't care what trust manages it,' he said.

'Our emphasis is on making sure the project is patient-focused, being sure what we are doing is relevant to helping modernise the NHS for all the people that live in the area. It's not just an IT project - it's about patient care, supporting clinicians and modernisation,' said Bell.

The £250m Birmingham-based Blackberd procurement was stopped by the Department of Health on the grounds it would be duplicating the work of the Integrated Care Records System (ICRS) aspect of the National Programme. But Bell says the PBW programme is further along than Blackberd and will be going ahead.

Once the PBW contract is signed, the consortium expects a 12-month design phase followed by a three-year implementation.