On 18 November 2017, the Rotunda effectively removed paper-based processes from its entire maternity and neonatal services. The MN-CMS was installed following a three-year programme of staff training, infrastructure optimisation and product development.
A Rotunda spokesperson told the Medical Independent (MI) that additional resources had been allocated to MN-CMS back office support, but that backfill was required. “Reporting writing from any system is a specialised skill and is difficult to source internally. We have allocated some resources to report writing and reporting… Gynaecology is [the] next stage for EHR-planning and scoping has commenced and provisionally planned for Rotunda in May 2019.”
The hospital’s annual report for 2017 outlined the “mammoth task” of ensuring over 800 staff were adequately trained, that a building dating to 1757 was sufficiently wired and wi-fi-enabled and thousands of new hardware items were successfully pre-installed. However, it added that this process was completed “efficiently and effectively”.
Nevertheless, the annual report also referred to remaining challenges including “the under-provision of sufficient support personnel to train new staff and trouble-shoot problems.
“Insufficient resources have been provided for ongoing training of existing staff to ensure the MN-CMS system is used optimally. Significant additional resources need to be provided to ensure that the system can provide timely access to accurate healthcare reports, as such report-generation functionality was not adequately developed prior to the implementation of the system.
“Additionally, gynaecology services have not been part of the original implementation plan and significant work is required in designing an appropriate gynaecology module for the MN-CMS system so that all remaining aspects of hospital activity are ultimately paperless. We are hopeful that during 2018 these limitations and challenges will be successfully resolved.”
The MN-CMS project involves the design and implementation of an electronic health record for all women and babies in maternity services in Ireland.
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