The Royal Marsden NHS FT has started to count down to the launch of Connect, its new electronic health record.
Described as “the largest and most important digital transformation programme in The Royal Marsden’s history”, Epic will be introduced across the trust in March 2023.
This month has seen the trust share staff views on what the new electronic record will mean, start super user training, and progress many other digital programmes.
David Newey, Chief Information Officer at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, noted some of their current projects on LinkedIn, highlighting the opening of a new £100m cancer centre and the roll-out a new unified communications platform.
David added: “We have turned on our new [Extreme Networks] network in the new Oak Cancer Centre; fitted out all the Connect EPR training rooms including those at the new Oak Cancer Centre; deployed our new ‘bring your own device’ infrastructure via Microsoft InTune which permits user access to corporate services from personal devices; commenced technical dress rehearsal testing with our team of testers; recruited via our Friends & Family recruitment drive; and commenced testing of our new Nokia G11s, which will provide access for clinicians to Epics Haiku and also Team’s telephony. An essential step in our UC rollout.”
Ahead of the launch of the new EHR, supporting communications around the programme include the trust sharing progress on a social media account:
Superuser Training is a go ???. A huge step closer to our go-live!!! pic.twitter.com/T1XQvUvnF2
— Royal Marsden: Connect (@RM_Connect) January 9, 2023
Dr Nadia Yousaf, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Divisional Chief Clinical Information Officer, shared her views ahead of the launch: “I’ve always had an interest in digital technologies in healthcare. My Royal Marsden research is actually looking at wearable technology and how it can help us monitor patients at home while they’re on treatment for cancer. So, when I first heard about the Connect programme, it seemed like an opportunity that aligned with both my research and clinical interests.
“I think the benefits of the programme go beyond just what Connect will do for us immediately, such as increasing efficiencies and improving patient care. But, more than this, it will also give us information and data to help us with our ongoing research. I genuinely believe that with better digital technology, we can make a real difference to patient outcomes. In the future, we may even be able to use digital tech to identify patient deterioration before it happens. This is still a long way off, but there’s such exciting potential.For me, ‘go-live’ is the first step into a really exciting future.”
As part of the programme, The Royal Marsden has partnered with Great Ormond Street Hospital to support patients involved in shared care between the two trusts to provide healthcare teams access to all data that is relevant to their care. It means that Royal Marsden staff can only access Royal Marsden patients’ information, and GOSH staff can only access GOSH patients’ information, unless a patient is involved in shared care.
To keep up-to-date with the programme, view the Connect Twitter account here.
