BOLTON’S hospital will receive more than £1 million to update its prescribing technology.

The hospital has long felt the pinch went it came to prescribing with patients regularly waiting for prescriptions before they can leave hospital, often causing delays for the hospital.

The money will go towards electronic systems for improving the way prescriptions are managed.

Chief pharmacist at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust Steven Simpson said: “I’m excited that we will soon see the end of a paper prescription chart and all the benefits that electronic prescribing and administration of medicines brings with it.

"Having an electronic record of prescriptions will mean health professionals involved in the patient’s care will have the information they require, wherever they are in the organisation.

"Patients won’t have to repeatedly provide their information.

"It will also speed up hospital discharges as prescriptions won’t have to be manually sent to pharmacy.

"This will free up a staff member from having to physically go down to pharmacy to request the prescription.

"The medicines patients need to leave hospital can be asked for at the touch of a button.”

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust will receive £1,020,000 from a £78 million national fund to go towards implementing electronic prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA).

This system will also work with Bolton’s electronic patient record system, being introduced next year.

ePMA systems will improve quality and safety, the NHS has highlighted evidence which points to a reduction of around 50 per cent in relation to high risk medication errors.

New health and social care secretary Matt Hancock has placed an emphasis on technology for the future of the NHS and this money supports his narrative.

Stephen Hammond, minister with the department for health and social care said: “As part of the long-term plan for the NHS, we not only want to harness technology to make it one of the most advanced healthcare systems in the world, but crucially to improve patient care.

“The more than £1 million provided for Bolton will help to drive these changes to the patient experience, but will also aid our hard-working and dedicated staff.

“The introduction of electronic prescribing is not only known to reduce medication errors, but also frees up time for staff by moving away from archaic paper-based systems.”

Andrew Davies, director of hospital pharmacy, NHS Improvement said:

“There is evidence that electronic prescribing and medicines administration systems will improve safety for patients, reducing the risk of harm and ensuring high quality efficient patient care which is as safe as possible.

“I’m delighted so many trusts have submitted successful bids to accelerate the introduction of these systems to provide safer, better quality patient care. We are now looking for more trusts to bid for funding by the end of January.”