Patients' details go hi-tech in £13m move

Almost £13 million will be spent on improving the way patients' records are stored at health sites across Worcestershire, including Kidderminster Hospital.

The town's hospital is one of the sites which will benefit from the new digital record system aimed at making it easier for staff to retrieve medical notes.

Bosses at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust say it will enable information to be shared among the different departments.

The first phase of the project will see paper records transferred to digital using intelligent recognition technology.

The second phase will enable the digitised records to be accessed by clinical teams across the trust using an on-line portal.

The trust has signed a £12.6m contract with specialist firm Xerox to develop the digital records system over the next 10 years.

Trust director of ICT John Thornbury said: "For patients there will be key benefits whether they attend for a scheduled appointment or as an emergency we will be able to ensure that their health records are available to doctors and other clinical staff."

Chief Executive John Rostill said: "I am determined that we make a real effort to reduce the paperwork in the local NHS."