STATE-of-the-art technology will ensure patients’ records will be stored digitally at the Great Western Hospital after a £1.35 million cash investment was secured.

The money, from NHS England, will help the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust invest in improved technology which will help monitor and record treatment.

Hospital staff are already benefitting from the trust’s Real Time (To) Care Programme, which has seen digital screens – operating in real-time – installed to display patient information.

Now, the trust plans to install more real-time digital screens at the Swindon hospital and also to develop electronic patient information storage systems.

Dr Constantin Jabarin, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s chief clinical information officer, said the technology meant up-to-date patient information was available to heath care staff immediately.

“It is fantastic news that we have secured this money as it will allow us to use technology more to further improve the way we care for our patients,” he said.

“Having up-to-date information about a patient’s care is vital to being able to treat them efficiently and effectively and I am sure patients will see tangible benefits.

“Being able to join-up the various stages of care provided to patients through our electronic information system provides clinicians with the tools they need to give patients the best possible experience.”

One of the programme’s main aims is to move away from using paper-based patient notes to having such information available electronically.

And it is hoped the investment will allow quicker and more accurate decision-making for patient care and will also speed up patient flow.

The trust will electronically share with GPs patient hospital discharge information; enabling details to be instantly available to GPs should they require them.

The Emergency Department at GWH already has an electronic real-time information board detailing crucial information about patients.

And similar technology is now set to be installed elsewhere in the hospital, to give staff instant information about important areas including bed availability and current ward staffing levels.

The new technology will be developed and implemented over the next year following a period of testing.