London-based NHS trust rolls out patient record hub

South London Healthcare NHS Trust has begun the roll out of a new patient administration and electronic record system, Cerner Millennium, in a bid to improve patient care and data security.

The system will be implemented across all South London Healthcare Trust hospitals.

The installation will be carried out by BT, in partnership with Cerner, and will take about two years.

As well as allowing patients' records and treatments to be stored on one system, the trust also hopes data confidentiality and security will be improved.

"This is a welcome step for the trust," said chief operating officer Jennie Hall.

"Our staff have, so far, been working with three different patient record systems. Installing one for all sites will make everyone's life much easier," she added.

"Patients can be reassured that their records can be appropriately accessed by any doctor they might see at any of our hospitals."

Cerner claims that once the new system is in place, patients will be able to gain faster access to services, which should allow speedier response times to such things as blood test results.