ACT Hospital Pharmacists and patients leap ahead with launch of Digital Health Record
The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) today has congratulated the ACT Government on its successful go-live of the territory-wide Digital Health Record this past weekend in ACT hospitals.
SHPA Chief Executive Kristin Michaels says, ‘On behalf of the Hospital Pharmacy sector I congratulate the ACT on taking another giant leap on their electronic medical record (EMR) journey with the launch of Digital Health Record, transforming the way Canberrans receive care in ACT hospitals.’
‘I want to acknowledge and congratulate all the Hospital Pharmacists, Hospital Pharmacy Technicians, Clinical Informatics Pharmacists and team members on the Digital Health Record team who have put in the hard yards over the last few years, ensuring the ACT can safely transition from paper-based records to electronic records’
‘Improvements and benefits to patient safety, quality of care and timeliness of care have been clearly demonstrated by other jurisdictions and hospital networks around Australia that have implemented EMRs. Research into EMRs and their benefits, such as reduced medication errors, are regularly presented at SHPA’s annual Medicines Management conference, and this year will be no different.’
The ACT Government recently released its eight-year ACT Health Services Plan 2022-2030 which identified eight action items for pharmacy.
Ms Michaels says, ‘It is truly an exciting time for Hospital Pharmacists in the ACT, not just with the Digital Health Record but also the focus on Hospital Pharmacy issues in the ACT Health Services Plan 2022‑2030.’
‘We are ecstatic to see the ACT Government committing to working with the Commonwealth to establish a Public Hospital Pharmaceutical Reform Agreement for ACT public hospitals, an issue SHPA has campaigned on to both levels of government over the years.’
‘When this is achieved, this will allow Canberrans to be supplied a months’ worth of discharge medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, supporting a safer and better discharge to home and allowing sufficient time to make a GP appointment after discharge for follow-up.’
‘The proactive commitment in the ACT Health Services Plan 2022‑2030 to develop 7-day pharmacy services that will have the capacity to be delivered 24/7, and undertake comprehensive review and planning actions to achieve this, will enable Hospital Pharmacists in the ACT to deliver better and safer care to patients whenever they receive care, and reduce the impact of medication-related hospital admissions and emergency department presentations, of which there are currently up to 650,000 per annum.’