Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out a new electronic medical records (EMR) system.

The EMR system will enable the Trust to increase access to patient information, guarantee case note availability at the point of patient care, improve efficiency, and reduce the costs, security risks and space associated with paper handling and storage.

The Trust has invested £1.5 million (€1.75m) in software, scanning hardware, and scanning bureau services and expects to save £750,000 (€875,000) annually based on reducing labour, transport and storage costs.

In addition, it has released 30% of a brand new £40 million (€47m) Elective Care Centre recently built on the hospital site, which is now being used for clinical activities rather than paper storage.

This is a £12 million (€14) estate benefit to the Trust as a whole floor has become available.

Providing acute healthcare to a population of 330,000 in North Merseyside and surrounding areas, Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust operates from two sites - Walton Hospital and University Hospital Aintree – and is the teaching centre for the University of Liverpool.

Predominately serving three Primary Care Trusts in South Sefton, North Liverpool and Kirkby,  specialist support such as respiratory disease, ophthalmology and cancer services are also provided to a wider population of 1.5 million in the midlands and North Wales.

With 850 beds, the Trust caters for 86,000 emergency admissions ever year, along with 330,000 outpatient visits and 77,000 inpatient day cases.

While isolated standalone scanner solutions were installed three years ago in the patients appointment centre and A & E, legal and pathology departments, it was felt that a Trust-wide solution was required to improve the way patient related case notes are handled across the organisation.

The decision also involved clinicians who felt that the quality of case notes needed significant improvement as finding information often took too long, and delays were experienced in case notes actually arriving for patient consultations.

Ward Priestman, Aintree University Hospital's Director of Informatics, said: "The Trust has an aggressive IT strategy and wants to invest in and use technology to drive service improvements. The EDM solution is a major step towards digitising the patient record."

The EMR uses CCube Solutions' electronic document management system, with outsourced scanning services provided by Capita Total, Document Solutions powered by Kodak production scanners and Kodak Capture Pro Network Edition imaging software.