Cerner has been tapped by the United Kingdom’s National Health Service to supply its Millennium EHR system for a 4,000-bed temporary hospital in London.

WHY IT MATTERS

The so-called Nightingale Hospital will be set up within the 100-acre ExCel convention center in the country’s capital, where Cerner will install its system. It will allow access and record relevant information for COVID-19 patients.

Staff at the Nightingale Hospital will be able to request tests and access results electronically through an extension of Cerner’s Millennium domain, which is already in use at Barts Health NHS Trust. It is already connected with the network of pathology-services providers in East London.

Seamless sharing of patient information between Barts Health and the local primary and community care providers will be made possible thanks to London-wide connectivity. That connectivity is enabled by Cerner’s Health Information Exchange, which is already established between the health system’s five hospitals and providers.

The system will also allow EHR information to be shared across London’s other acute Trusts through the OneLondon Local Health and Care Record Exemplar. The Millennium platform is currently utilized by more than 144,000 health and care professionals across 24 NHS Trusts, according to Cerner.

After the first reported cases, Cerner developed and pushed a COVID-19 update to Millennium to help health systems actively manage the ongoing threat of the virus in communities.

Furthermore, the company has taken steps to enhance and introduce new technology offerings and join with other companies to offer virtual health solutions.

THE LARGER TREND

The coronavirus pandemic has pulled into sharp focus the strengths and weaknesses of EHRs. One of the central problems to surface is the fact that the systems are large, slow monoliths that don’t quickly adapt to new, emergent demands on their design and workflow.

However, there are also voices out there who acknowledge that, despite the many challenges facing better integration of EHRs into networks of healthcare organizations and professionals, they can be of great help during a health crisis. And most EHR vendors have been making changes to their products to better serve their customers during the pandemic.

Cerner's chief competitor, Epic, recently launched a new app designed for temporary and nontraditional care settings during the coronavirus crisis.

In an article contributed this past week, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel offered some technology best practices for temporary hospital deployments.

ON THE RECORD

"Working closely together, NHS and Cerner teams have managed to get this new facility created within the system in just a matter of days," said Distie Profit, managing director of Cerner UK, in a statement.

"Today, the NHS’ goal is to keep as many people as safe as possible throughout this pandemic and to be able to look after those who are most vulnerable and have been affected by the virus – our goal is to provide them with the tools and the support that will help them get there."

Nathan Eddy is a healthcare and technology freelancer based in Berlin.
Email the writer: nathaneddy@gmail.com
Twitter: @dropdeaded209