RECORDS of patients care will be going digital in a £30 million project.

The details of every aspect of care a person receives from Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, either in the hospital or community, will be uploaded into one place.

It is hoped the move from individual paper records to an over-arching electronic database will improve the way patients are cared for in Bolton.

Ken Bradshaw, deputy chief informatics officer at the trust, said: “Ensuring our clinicians, doctors, nurse and other health care professionals have the information about a patient at hand to provide proper care relies on the the records.

“Unfortunately those records do not always follow the path the patient takes. This is will make sure they are always on hand at all times.

“It will mean better integrated care as a patient moves from hospital back into the community.”

Health bosses from the trust have this week signed a major contract to provide the enhanced records which provide a full history of a patient’s care.

The £30million project has been in the works for more than a year and the Trust has worked with Allscripts Sunrise Electronic Patient Record (EPR) to implement the record.

Work will begin on the new system next month, and it is expected that the first phase will go-live in spring 2019.

The system will also include facilities such as prompts for ongoing assessments and treatments to prevent pressure ulcers.

Mr Bradshaw added: “Signing this contract is the result of months of hard work behind the scenes preparing our systems and teams for this investment.

“We’re delighted to be at the point where we can start to progress the project and reap the benefits it will be bring for our patients.

“The new technology will provide a seamless process, and make it so much easier for our clinicians to access a single, detailed and up-to-date view of a patient’s health record.”