Rotunda first to install full electronic record system
THE Rotunda is the first Dublin maternity hospital to introduce a full electronic health record for all newborn babies and women receiving maternity services, it was announced today.
The Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS), a national system which will be implemented in all 19 maternity units across the country, is expected to enhance care, as all patients will have an electronic record instead of a paper record. This will allow clinical record information to be shared with relevant care providers.
The Rotunda is the first stand-alone hospital in Ireland to go completely electronic with its maternity health care records, and the third hospital nationally, after Cork University Maternity Hospital and University Hospital Kerry.
Among the first newborns at the Rotunda Hospital to have their own electronic health records from birth are babies Freya Grace Harran and Martin Avolese. Baby Freya, weighing 7lb 14oz, was born to parents Martina Melia and Paul Harran, from Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, while baby Martin, weighing in at 6lb 7oz, was born to Mariangela Toma and Martin Avolese from Raheny, Dublin 5.
Professor Fergal Malone, master of the Rotunda, the oldest continuously operating maternity hospital in the world, said the new system can offer better efficiencies for both mothers and healthcare workers. ‘The Rotunda is the first stand-alone hospital to go completely electronic in terms of its maternity healthcare records, which has the potential to offer great efficiencies for patients and healthcare providers,’ said Prof. Malone. ‘We anticipate even further advances in terms of patient safety and satisfaction over and above our existing services.’
Meanwhile, Jane Carolan, interim chief information officer for the HSE, said the new system represents an important step in modernising the health services and moving patient care into the digital age.
‘This is another important step in our electronic health journey, and MN-CMS is one of eHealth Ireland’s flagship programmes,’ Ms Carolan said. ‘This is a significant investment in modernising the service through the deployment of technology which directly improves patient care.’
Health Minister Simon Harris also welcomed the introduction of the electronic records, which was highlighted in the tenyear National Maternity Strategy, launched last year. ‘I’m delighted that Ireland’s oldest maternity hospital is its newest digitally enabled hospital,’ Mr Harris said. ‘The electronic health record for mothers and babies was endorsed in the National Maternity Strategy and supports better, safer clinical decision-making and facilitates the provision of a more connected health service delivering improved health outcomes.
‘The roll out of MN-CMS to the Rotunda Hospital marks a very significant development in the delivery of maternity care.’
BY any standards, it is incredible to think that the Rotunda is only now introducing a fully electronic system of records for newborns and their mothers. But what is even more astonishing is that it is the first maternity hospital in Dublin to do so.
Simon Harris says he is ‘delighted’ at the move because it ‘supports better, safer clinical decision-making and facilitates the provision of a more connected health service delivering improved health outcomes’.
The congratulatory tone of the Health Minister’s statement strikes a jarring note. Both he and HSE management ought to be ashamed of themselves that we are seeing this happening so late in the day.
We live in a technologically advanced age where electronic records are commonplace in all sorts of businesses and organisations. Given that a misplaced file could have potentially tragic consequences, it is inexcusable such a system hasn’t been introduced in all maternity hospitals long ago.