PRINCESS Alexandra Hospital (PAH) bosses plan to launch a new electronic health record (EHR) system in October.

Over the last few years, hospital trusts across the country have been switching to EHR systems.

The system, (called Alex Health in Harlow) is best described by Phil Holland, chief information officer at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT).

Mr Holland said: “Alex Health is our new electronic health record system. An electronic health record is an integrated digital record of a patient’s care, drawing together information from all systems that store a patient’s personal health care data. It will help our clinicians and local GPs get fast and easy access to this data and save patients having to repeat information at each appointment.

“There are a range of benefits including to patient safety, reducing repeat testing, improving access to appointment booking, and better support for patients.

By the end of 2023, 189 trusts had introduced new systems.

Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “Electronic records give clinicians access to vital patient information when and where they need it, alerting them to immediate risks and giving them more time to care for their patients”.

However concerns have been raised to us, that the implementation of the multi-million pound EHR system is not running smoothly.

One source tells us is that is being hampered by “staff vacancies”, “spiralling costs” and “insufficient training for staff”.

As we said the programme is set to go live in October. Sources have expressed concerns about PAH being wedded to that deadline and the risks attached. There are concerns over possible risks to patient care and treatment.

There is also a question of how much this has cost and whether it has gone over budget? It was budgeted at £31 million in 2023.

The topic of Alex Health regularly comes up in PAH Board meetings.

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