November 29, 2021 – Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has successfully completed a complex project to fully integrate and embed its EDMS system – which contains over 80 million scanned legacy patient records – within Cerner’s Millennium EPR.

This is the first time this has been done in the UK and allows around 3,800 staff immediate access to digital patient notes contained in the CCube EDMS – but viewed from within Millennium – without them having to log in and out of the two systems inputting their username and password or any medical record numbers.

Clinicians now just press an EDMS tab added within the Millennium menu and a viewer immediately displays the patient’s record from the CCube system.  Easy and quick to then navigate, all the digital notes of an individual are displayed in folders on screen covering appointment letters, correspondence and the results of clinical trials.

It is the ‘in context’ aspect of this workflow project which is of significance.   Craig York, Milton Keynes University Hospital’s chief technology officer, explains, “We don’t require clinicians to open up a new Internet Explorer window to do this which is another way the integration could have been done.  But they’d then have multiple screens open and it could become distracting and confusing for staff about which patient file they’re actually in which we obviously didn’t want.”

Milton Keynes University Hospital’s internal IT team undertook the project working in close collaboration with software developers at CCube Solutions.

York adds, “Another good feature is that when a clinician then selects a new patient, the system automatically refreshes and shows the new person’s historical notes when the EDMS tab is pressed in Millennium.”

The integration of the two system therefore saves valuable time for busy clinicians.  This is key as the number of patients treated at Milton Keynes University Hospital is substantial.  In 2020/2021, there were 313,363 outpatient attendances, 22,208 non-elective admissions and 73,397 emergency department attendances.

Debbie Phillips, Milton Keynes University Hospital’s CCIO and consultant surgeon says, “The importance of opportunities to save clinical time within a digital system can’t be underestimated given the number of patients we have to treat.”

A long track record of success using digital records

Milton Keynes University Hospital started its digital journey with CCube Solutions’ EDMS over 10 years ago.  For many years, it was at the centre of how scanned patient records were kept at the hospital.  It is also used for creating and storing all typed outpatient letters meaning that EDMS is still a key element of the Trust’s electronic patient record.

As Cerner Millennium – branded as eCARE at the hospital – has grown in use since its installation, the number of paper records that need to be scanned into CCube EDMS has reduced significantly.  Since May 2018, mostly adult patient records are in Cerner, and from September 2021, patients in paediatrics, intensive care units and visiting theatres will all have their information input directly into it.

Today, EDMS runs in a secure Microsoft Azure cloud environment which reflects the hospital’s digital cloud first strategy – digital at the heart of everything and cloud where possible given the agility, scalability and flexibility it offers.

Vijay Magon, CCube Solutions’ managing director, says, “We are particularly pleased with The Trust’s move to digital cloud and adoption of our hosted EDMS. It’s definitely a way forward in the NHS given the maturity and security of cloud offerings.”

Sharing Millennium EPR knowledge and experience with the wider NHS

York adds, “We would be very happy to provide input and information to other NHS organisations who are considering using both CCube EDMS and Cerner Millennium and are considering integrating both. They can leverage the lessons we’ve learnt about how to successfully do it.”

The integration of CCube EDMS and Cerner Millennium is crucial given both systems are used extensively day to day.

York explains, “It’s important for us to have a secure and reliable records system where there’s no room for clinical staff to get into patient safety issues. The IT team has once again shown its ability to ensure digital transformation is driving clear and demonstratable benefits and efficiencies for staff and patients.”

Magon concludes, “NHS organisations have adopted different strategies when it comes to deploying systems. Some have a big all-encompassing EPR whereas others have combined best of breed applications together.  Milton Keynes Hospital has gone down the EPR route but then worked hard to integrate our EDMS so that all its patient records are in one place and easy to access.  That’s possible to do given our software uses open APIs and we’re happy to work with Trusts to facilitate the work.”

About CCube Solutions
CCube Solutions is a leading supplier of cloud based Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) to the NHS, serving healthcare providers for over 20 years. Their innovative and mission-critical solutions enable efficient storage, intelligent retrieval, and management of patient records, supporting healthcare organizations in delivering high-quality care and enhancing operational efficiency.

For further information, please visit www.ccubesolutions.com