CUMBRIA Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has secured more than £5.6m of funding from the ‘Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards’ technology fund’.

 The cash will be used to deliver three major programmes of work, which will enable electronic patient records, electronic referrals and the secure sharing of data from GPs to Trust services.

Electronic Patient Records (EPR) was awarded £5.2m. The EPR will hold all of patient-related clinical and health information in one place, to make it easier for doctors, nurses and healthcare staff within the trust make clinical decisions about patient care.

A programme called Strata was awarded £221,000. It will introduce the sending and receiving of referrals electronically.

The Medical Interoperability Gateway, a messaging gateway which allows the exchanging of data between GP Practice Clinical Systems and the trust’s systems, was awarded £220k.

Dr Chris Hallewell, Medical Director, said: “This funding will play a major part in revolutionising the delivery of care across Cumbria. Trust staff and GPs directly involved in patient care will be able to share important information quickly, enabling them to provide more effective care and, more importantly, you should not have to repeat the same details each time you receive care.”