CNWL NHS Trust Launches Electronic Prescribing in Secondary Care Services with Successful SystmOne EPS Pilot
Central North West London (CNWL) NHS Trust has marked a significant milestone in the advancement of digital healthcare, becoming the first Trust to roll out EPS (the Electronic Prescription Service) to its secondary care services. This follows a hugely successful pilot across the Trust’s inpatient Mental Health services, which led to the Trust realising several significant and immediate benefits for both staff and patients.
Introducing EPS in to SystmOne has transformed prescribing in secondary care services – delivering significant time and cost savings while enhancing the experience for both staff and patients. By reducing administrative burden and minimising prescription-related complaints, SystmOne is supporting Trusts to operate more efficiently and provide more connected, patient-centred care.
CNWL serves a significant population across London, providing integrated healthcare services covering a range of specialties, including mental health, physical health, sexual health, and Health and Justice services. With a strong focus on innovation and patient-centred care, CNWL has striven to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of the services it provides through adopting pioneering IT solutions.
The Trust’s prescribing journey commenced several years ago with the rollout of the SystmOne Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) system to its inpatient services, and the rollout of EPS to community services. Since then, CNWL has steadily expanded its digital prescribing capabilities, enabling EPS across three of its secondary care services.
This alone has already achieved remarkable success. Over 90% of all prescriptions are now being generated electronically, delivering significant time and cost savings, whilst also improving patient safety and care quality. Enabling EPS has enhanced overall efficiency across the services, with the average amount of staff time spent on prescribing activities dropping from 2.5 hours to just 40 minutes per day, freeing up valuable clinician time for direct patient care.
Utilisation of EPS has also led to a substantial decrease in prescribing errors, supporting safer prescribing practices. In addition, with no lost paper prescriptions and a more streamlined process, prescription-related queries and complaints have been all but eliminated, signalling an enhanced experience for both staff and patients. The move has also helped the Trust cut stationery and postage expenses from £500 per month to virtually zero.
This success paves the way for the full-scale deployment of SystmOne EPS across the Trust’s remaining secondary care services. Plans are now underway to extend EPS Trust-wide, reaching over 780 beds across 55 wards.
The feedback from clinicians on the ground has been overwhelmingly positive. “Immediate benefits to cost and time is evident,” stated an ADHD consultant, referring to the system as an “early Christmas present”. A Pharmacist across the addictions service, who were among the first to adopt the system, described it as a “pioneering milestone” in improving service delivery for patients.
The success of EPS in secondary care sets a new standard for NHS Trusts across the country. The upcoming full rollout will result in the enhanced quality and safety of care being delivered to even more patients, whilst continuing to drive efficiency across the Trust’s services.