NHS IT team wins top development network award

A WARRINGTON NHS IT team have won a North West Skills development network information award.
Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s (Bridgewater) electronic patient records team was named Team of the Year at the Development Network Information Awards in Blackpool.
In the past two years the team, which is based in Birchwood, has assisted more than 1,000 frontline NHS clinicians across Bridgewater in moving from using paper based patient records to mobile electronic patient records.
Sandra Alderson, programme manager at Bridgewater said: “We are delighted to have won this prestigious award. Our team is passionate about using mobile technology to make the day to day working of our clinical staff as easy as possible so they can concentrate on providing the best possible patient care.
“Electronic patient records enable our nurses, community matrons, health visitors and other clinicians to update patient records at the point of care such as in a patient’s home or locations such as children’s centres, sure start centres and schools. This means clinicians can spend less time at their base carrying out administrative work and more time with their patients. The system also enables more effective information sharing with
GPs and other clinicians who work in different teams and for different NHS Trusts.”
Bridgewater’s chief executive Colin Scales added: “I am delighted our team has been recognised for their tenacity, professionalism and positivity in managing one of the largest roll outs of electronic patient records systems in the country.
“The change has brought tremendous benefits to both staff and patients. The team are a superb example of how non-clinical staff in the NHS can support clinicians to further improve patient care.”