High-tech shot in the arm for 1,800 hospital beds

The UK's largest rollout of a hospital electronic prescription system is nearing completion in Birmingham.

The ePrescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) system will manage medicines for the more than 1,800 hospital beds at Heartlands, Solihull and Good Hope hospitals, as well as their take-out prescriptions.

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The system includes access to the Multilex Drug Data File database, which allows clinicians to check how drugs will interact with each other, potential duplicate therapies and allergies that can be triggered by certain medications.

The rollout of the EPMA system, from medical software specialist JAC, is due to be completed in July this year.

The EPMA system will also be fully integrated with the trust's pharmacy management system, also provided by JAC.

Niall Poole, electronic prescribing project manager at Birmingham's Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement: "E-prescribing minimises the risk of medication errors in many ways: from the very basic, such as producing legible prescriptions which are not subject to the difficulties and potential dangers of reading and interpreting handwriting, to the very advanced such as drug interaction information at the point of prescribing."