London Programme for IT

Minister of State for Health visits Oxleas

Minister of State for Health, Ben Bradshaw MP, discovered at first hand the benefits that electronic patient records are bringing to patients in south east London when he visited Orpington Community Mental Health Centre at the end of October.

Dr Hashim Reza, Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, gave a demonstration of RiO, the new electronic patient record system installed by BT as part of the London Programme for IT and took the Minster through a typical interaction with a patient to show how it is providing more joined up care. Dr Reza showed how information is never more than two clicks away and that test results can be found in a matter of seconds.

Electronic patient records can now be shared by a number of clinicians across the trust's 76 sites, enabling the right level of care to be administered quickly and effectively. A care plan review meeting was set up for the Minister to enable him to see how members of a multi-disciplinary team work together to review the treatment a patient has received and make recommendations for their care, aided by having access to the right information about the patient through RiO. During a Q&A session, the team was open and honest about their experiences, providing the Minister with a true picture of how RiO is improving the quality of care for patients.

Minister of State for Health, Ben Bradshaw, said: “Information Technology is playing a pivotal role in enabling the NHS to deliver better, faster and safer healthcare. Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust is a great example of this. For the first time, patient information is available electronically to clinicians wherever and whenever it is needed, whereas previously paper records were locked up in filing stores. This is just one of the many tangible benefits being delivered today.”

Oxleas Mental Health Trust was one of the first trusts in London to complete a trust-wide switch to electronic patient records and serves a population of three quarters of a million people in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich. Six out of ten mental health trusts across the capital are already using RiO electronic patient record systems with other trusts also expected to introduce the system.

For more information on Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust see their website.