Case Study for University Hospitals of Portsmouth
University Hospitals of Portsmouth relied on paper-based prescriptions before using E-Sign.
About
Background
Portsmouth University Hospital previously relied on a paper-based process for providing prescriptions for homecare patients. This was incredibly time-consuming, with prescription processing typically taking between 10 days and 2 weeks.
Although hospitals already used digital prescription platforms, the Lead Pharmacist for homecare services at Portsmouth recognised that there were shortfalls surrounding the security and validity of the signature. The hospital approached E-Sign, as an established and approved supplier for the NCHA, with an aim to create a bespoke platform for a fully digital prescription process.
Since implementation, the digital prescription platform created by the Lead Pharmacist has been rolled out across several departments, with 50 clinicians benefiting from this transformation and one recognised week going live with 30 clinicians.
Key Issues Addressed
- One trust with a 3-site hospital and needed to transfer prescriptions across sites as a routine process.
- This not only poses a risk of misplacement of documents but also represents a time delay for transport.
- Paper-based prescriptions were slowing down the processing of the prescriptions as it was reliant on the paper copy being available to the correct person at the correct time, i.e. the prescriber, the clinical screening pharmacist, the clinical homecare team and the clinical homecare providers.
- At each step, there is time needed not online for the activity but to transfer to the next step in the process, causing delays and potential stress and anxiety to patients.
- Meeting NHS requirements in relation to Information Governance and Security.
Key Issues Addressed
The previous paper process was a significant admin burden on clinicians. The hospital found that prescriptions were taking too long to be processed as they were transported between several different touch points.
Prescriptions were sent using Royal Mail recorded delivery, which not only took a long time but also resulted in prescriptions occasionally going missing and increased the risk of a data breach, if envelopes were broken into and patient information accessed by unauthorised individuals.
Additionally, the use of paper-based prescriptions caused issues with mistakes on paperwork, it being misfiled, and could often lead to confusion with illegible signatures causing uncertainty over who signed the prescription. These challenges resulted in a lack of efficiency in the hospital’s homecare prescription processing and caused delays in patients receiving the medication and care they required.
The Solution
E-Signs worked with stakeholders involved in the digital prescription project to build a universal and scalable solution that addressed all the issues relating to paper-based prescription transport.
Portsmouth Hospital built a bespoke platform, to improve the efficiency of prescription processing, which included E-Sign’s advanced electronic signature. E-Sign’s solution offered assurance in terms of the validity and security of documents, and the advanced audit trail that comes with every signed document.
This platform has several important features that help to make the process easier and save time for clinicians. For example, the platform can reduce the time taken to send repeat prescriptions, the system is tailored to each clinical team and allows them to process repeat prescriptions in just 6 seconds. Other key features include:
- A traffic light system, providing a useful visual aid for teams to see the order of prescriptions and ensure no patient falls through the cracks
- Option to ‘tick if urgent’ so the document is tagged as urgent and the prescription can be processed quicker
- Data/patient management is done through individual clinic apps
- Documents sent through E-Sign are filtered into a separate folder to ensure prescriptions don’t get lost or overlooked in email inboxes, improving visibility
- Teams can see the treatment a patient needs by searching their name or NHS number
Key Results and Impact
Portsmouth Hospital has seen impressive results of the platform, with the solution having an extremely positive impact on homecare prescription processing.
- Prescription turnaround time was reduced from between 10 days or 2 weeks to just 6 minutes.
- Less administrative burden on clinicians, saving them around 2 hours a day on prescription processing.
- Reduced errors in documents, E-Sign provides the option to decline the prescription if it’s wrong and notifies the sender, ensuring greater accuracy in prescriptions.
- Clinicians can process repeat prescriptions in just 6 seconds
- Teams no longer have to chase signatures or missing documents, improving efficiency and allowing more agility when completing document transactions.
- The process is seamless, with greater visibility and control over prescriptions, which allows them to be processed and provided to patients as quickly as possible.
- The risk of data breaches is significantly reduced with digital prescriptions offering more security than paper alternatives and full compliance with GDPR for the NHS.
Customer Testimonial
“E-Sign has proven to be a fantastic system that has had an important positive impact on our homecare prescription services. It has enabled us to significantly reduce the administrative burden on clinicians, creating a lean process that allows prescriptions to be signed and completed within minutes rather than days.
The combination of E-Sign and our new prescription management platform has transformed our workflows, allowing us to improve the service we provide. A patient’s health is at the end of each document and E-Sign has helped us ensure that every document is processed quickly, securely, and accurately.”
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