A PROGRAMME has gone live linking communications between Furness General Hospital and social care services across the county.

Other hospitals across the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, including Westmorland General, are to follow in the next few weeks, as part of a project put in place by the Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group.

The scheme will enable patients to complete a ‘paperless’ transition from hospital back into the community, following acute or medical treatment.

Brenda Chambers, county manager for Adult Social Care, added: “This is a real step forward towards a completely paperless system that tracks people’s transition from Acute and Community Hospitals back to the community.

“It enables agencies to work together with shared information to produce better assessments, support and outcomes for people as they return home.”

The next phase of the scheme will see all Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust (CPFT) providers able to refer clients to social services.

Dr Leanne Cooper, service manager for acute and emergency medicine at the Morecambe Bay trust, said: “Our ability to seamlessly transition patients across to our social services colleagues for appropriate care coordination will not only enable a completely auditable electronic history of the patient’s journey but, perhaps more importantly, will create a best practice standard of logistics and communications that ensures all patients’ needs are being met as quickly and effectively as possible.”