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The government has announced the next wave of hospitals that will receive funding to help switch from paper to electronic prescribing systems.
Some 25 trusts will receive a total of £26m, coming from the £78m pot that was announced in November 2018. The first tranche of £16m was allocated to 13 trusts.
In the next wave, announced on 1 November 2019, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust and The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will be given a combined total of £3m — the largest sum offered through the scheme so far.
Barts Health NHS Trust has been allocated £900,000, after it was awarded £1.7m in the first wave, making it the only hospital to receive a second round of funding.
The Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement that the electronic prescribing systems will “replace outdated paper systems, improve patient safety and reduce errors”.
Simon Priestley, chief pharmacist of Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, which received £940,000 in the first wave of funding, said the hospital is “at the early stages” of rolling out its electronic prescribing system, but he anticipates “it will improve accuracy and reduce the number of medication errors”.
Edward Argar, minister of state at the Department of Health and Social Care, added that the government is “committed to giving our hardworking staff access to modern systems which save them valuable time and make every penny of taxpayers’ money count”.
