9th January 2014 – Ascribe is pleased to announce the successful Go Live of the Ascribe Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) system at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (“East Lancashire”).

The Go Live marks the final stage in the Trust’s strategic partnership with Ascribe to implement a fully integrated Pharmacy solution through Trust-wide Electronic Prescribing. With Ascribe Web Pharmacy and eMedicines Management already in place, the move to ePrescribing is the final stage that will enable a single workflow of information from the prescriber to the dispensary staff, using a single patient record which eliminates the need to transcribe routine medications, and provides decision support to clinicians.

Ascribe’s Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) ensures that prescriptions are accessible at all times by clinicians, ensuring patients receive correct medication, avoiding accidental harm through manual prescription, which increases patient safety.

To assist with the associated cultural, IT and process changes a project such as ePMA presents, East Lancashire utilised Ascribe’s Business Transformation services to help with the transition. Ruth Townson, Senior Pharmacist at East Lancashire commented “the team at Ascribe have been really helpful in engaging key stakeholders in the trust throughout the project, from implementing Electronic Medicines Management last year, to Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration this year.”

East Lancashire has used tablet computers on the ward since the implementation of eMM last year. Ruth comments “The tablets have generated a lot of interest throughout the Trust; Pharmacy were the first department to be using mobile technology in clinical areas. It’s great to be at the forefront of technology in the trust, as the technology has been established for over a year this will help us moving forward with electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration.”

Neil Fletcher, Chief Pharmacist commented “Ascribe has helped us gain trust-wide engagement, as Electronic Prescribing is trust wide it’s not just for the Pharmacy department.  The ePMA solution will deliver benefits including integration with trust wide systems, cost savings from drug spend, reduction in time spent in the dispensary and more time at patient bedside, reduction in errors of handwritten notes, achieving a paperless status, all of which will ultimately help us deliver better patient care.”

Stephen Critchlow, Executive Chairman of Ascribe, commented “It’s fantastic to see Ascribe’s first Pharmacy customer meet their ultimate goal of implementing Electronic Prescribing. I’m sure they will start to realise benefits of full ePMA from immediate effect.”