South Devon Consortium

ChemoCare was selected by the South Devon Consortium in 2008 as the chemotherapy prescribing system for three hospitals in Devon; Torbay General Hospital, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and North Devon District Hospital. 

ChemoCare was purchased to allow harmonisation of chemotherapy service across the consortium; streamline prescribing, ensure that prescribing practice was consistent across the three hospitals and to help reduce the risk of prescribing errors.

Implementation Success

The implementation began in March 2008 with a planned go live in December 2008 for Torbay General Hospital quickly followed by Royal Devon and Exeter and North Devon District. There was a considerable amount of work to complete in the eight months allowed for the first stage of the implementation. 

The implementation team consisted of pharmacists, doctors, nurses and project managers from the three sites working together to agree the detail of the protocols they use and loading them onto the system. 

Alongside preparing protocols the teams reviewed their working practices and agreed how to use ChemoCare to get the most from the system. The advantage of having a system that could be used to prescribe chemotherapy at any of the hospitals was seen as a definite benefit for the consultants that treated patients at different hospital sites. Torbay went live on time with haematology protocols and has been successfully using the system since then.  Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and North Devon District Hospital started using the system soon after, implementing breast treatment first.

Getting the Benefit

All three hospitals are now enjoying the benefits that electronic prescribing for chemotherapy brings. Chemotherapy prescriptions are consistent, legible and can be audited against national and international standards. Everyone using the system knows where and when patients are to be treated and the ability to produce drug production worksheets straight from the system ensures that drugs can be produced efficiently.