The Northern Ireland Health Ministry has launched a new electronic patient record system, the NI Emergency Care Record (NIECR) to improve emergency care for patients attending accident and emergency (A&E) departments and ‘out-of-hours’ doctors’ services.
The Southern Health and Social Care Trust will be the first in Northern Ireland to introduce the NI Emergency Care Record (NIECR). Initially, it will be introduced on a pilot basis in the areas areas of Amagh and Dungannon and later on it would be roll-out across Northern Ireland. The NI Emergency Care Record will, for the first time, provide ‘out-of-hours’ and A&E staff with key information from the patients’ medical records. The Emergency Care Record will give staff working in the out-of-hours service more detailed medical information about their patients, enabling them to make more informed decisions in their treatment and give them the best possible care. The new system is expected to improve services to some 1.2 million patients attended to every year by Northern Ireland’s five ‘out-of-hours’ doctors’ services and 11 A&E departments.
