Brighton hospital doctors are being helped into the 21st century with computers to record vital information about patients when they are discharged.
The aim is to give each patient a clear record of their treatment while in hospital and their medication which can also be sent electronically to a patient’s GP.
Until now, Royal Sussex County Hospital discharge documents have been written on paper and posted to family doctors.
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex, said: “The online form will be sent electronically to a patient’s GP within 24 hours of discharge, eventually replacing paper-based discharge documentation.
“This is arguably our most important step forward in assuring safe care post discharge and improving our communications with GPs.”
Mr Selbie said that wireless “computers on wheels” were being installed and tested in the Acute Medical Unit and wards in the Barry and Jubilee Buildings.
He said that the web-based summaries had been successfully piloted by doctors, pharmacists and ward clerks in the Acute Medical Unit, in Ear, Nose and Throat Level 8a East and in Catherine James and Egremont Wards.
He added that they would be introduced in stages throughout the rest of the trust’s hospitals.
