17 March 2021

Emergency Departments go paper-free with introduction of new digital patient system

Emergency Departments go paper-free with introduction of new digital patient system - Conquest Hospital

Conquest Hospital

The introduction of a new digital system, called Nervecentre, in the Emergency Departments at Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne DGH means that paper patient records are now a thing of the past in these departments.

The Nervecentre system allows information about a patient’s visit to the department to be stored electronically, and members of staff use specially provided mobile phones and tablets to input clinical information. This means a patient’s notes are always available when a clinician needs them, and time is not wasted looking for paper notes. The system also gives an overview of all activity within the department and will automatically give an alert when any patient’s condition is deteriorating.

Emergency Departments go paper-free with introduction of new digital patient system - Eastbourne

Eastbourne DGH

In conjunction with other parts of the Nervecentre system already in use on our hospitals’ wards, a patient’s notes will remain digital and therefore move seamlessly with them from the Emergency Department on their journey through the hospital.

The next phase of development of the system will see all other aspects of patient care, including investigations and prescribing, integrated in to the system so that all information about the care of patients is managed entirely via the one system.

Dr Shaymau Habeeb, Chief of Emergency Medicine at ESHT, said: “In the short time since we introduced Nervecentre to our Emergency Departments, we’ve already seen many benefits. The system is easy to use and gives us clear and accurate real-time information about our patients. Having all the clinical information we need easily to hand saves time so we have more time to spend with patients, which ultimately means we can provide a better overall experience for them.”

Debbie Guy, Director of Operations at Nervecentre said “The implementation of our Emergency Department software solution in the two Emergency Departments at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust was a great success and was only made possible through the hard work and dedication of the teams at both the Trust and Nervecentre. It’s great to see the software working so well and seeing how quickly and easily the staff took to it. I’m looking forward to seeing all the efficiency and patient safety benefits that come from their new ED system.”