Speed up maternity overhaul, says expert
Call to computerise records
THE changeover fromm paper charts to digitall charts for the maternity services should be welcomed, according to an adviser to the HSE on reform.
Nine of Ireland’s maternity hospitals only use paperer charts, while the remaining 10 use a mixture of different and often outdated electronic systems.
A nationwide project to launch a unified system has been plagued by delays, the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed last week. At first set for 2012, the latest date for running a pilot programme is now early 2016 – in spite of ongoing work by a team of medics and IT specialists.
Minutes of board meetings released to this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act show that project members raised concerns about lack of resources for the project.
Antony Staines, professor of health systems at Dublin City University, is part of the Systems Reform Group, which was set up by the HSE in 2012.
This is advising on overall reform of the HSE with a focus on helping different parts of the sprawling system integrate or ‘talk’ to each other more effectively.
He said: ‘I am in favour of moving to the electronic chart system. Most of the time in maternity care outcomes are really good, but occasionally things get missed.
‘Electronic records aren’t the only way to get shared records, but are one of the more efficient ways. That is ultimately why I favour them – it reduces mistakes, it makes shared care easier and simpler.’
Digital charts are typically read on a tablet by medical staff. When doctors click on the chart, any important notices are immediately brought to the front, he explained.
‘If you come into hospital and you have an allergy, it is filed in your paper records, but it can happen that I never see it because it’s filed with 47 other results and I just don’t turn over the right sheet. That can happen – doctors and nurses are human, they make mistakes.
‘Computers make mistakes too, of course, but there are some mistakes they don’t make and that is one of them,’ Prof Staines said.
Documents released to the MoS show that privacy issues have already been considered by the project team.
Minutes of the project’s board meetings show an acute awareness of recent tragedies. The system will include ‘intelligent alarms’ to recognise abnormal heartbeat readings or unusual reaction to drugs.