SRHA aiming to outfit hospitals in region with electronic patient records system

Regional director of the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), Michael Bent, says SRHA is aiming to outfit all hospitals in the region with an electronic filing system by the end of the 2019/2020 fiscal year.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday in Mandeville, Bent said the new electronic system has so far been installed at the Santa Cruz Health Centre and at the Black River, Mandeville Regional, May Pen and the Percy Junor hospitals.

The SRHA regional director said the electronic patient records system will enable hospital officials to track patients from the time they visit health facilities to the time they leave.

For example, Bent said for the month of October, the SRHA was able to deduce that over 6,000 patients visited the Mandeville Regional Hospital and in less than 30 minutes, 64.5 per cent of them were seen by a triage doctor.

That figure moved to 76 per cent within the hour. 

He says with electronic system hospital officials will be able to track patient trends, waiting times and other important data in order to make improvements to the health system.