Our Deputy director of nursing and transformation Jackie Murphy and paediatrician Dr Alistair Morris told a packed meeting the key to successful Electronic Patient Record (EPR) launch is in the preparation.

There was a huge turnout of colleagues from all areas in the session in the Learning Centre at HRI, with around 150 people attending. The new EPR ‘good to go’ passport - which will record preparation activities including training and testing - was introduced to an audience who had been issued with "boarding pass"- style invitations. (see attachment)

Alistair said our effort, working jointly with Bradford Teaching Hospitalss, was a first for the country. He also said training would take place over an 8-week period, for doctors, nurses and other system users and would be around a day each. There would be a full dress rehearsal before the actual ‘Go-Live’.

Jackie Murphy, said the run-up to launch needed the same level of commitment as a CQC inspection and that had to begin now. Champions to head up each team, who would be known as ‘EPR Friends’ are needed in each department, who will support colleagues. Our launch will learn lessons from other launches in the UK and in the USA taking the best of each and applying it in our Trusts.

She said: "We cannot underestimate the amount of training and learning. We must invest in time before we go live and we cannot turn it on until we know everybody is a safe, confident user."

 The EPR comms lead Colin Beesting added: "EPR is too important for it not to work – it’s going to make a massive difference to our  patients!"

Jackie added it was important for all areas to be clear about the expectations and also to be aware of how much EPR will benefit our patients and all colleagues in their working lives.

Passports to record preparation activities will be issued to wards and departments and stickers will be added to them as each stage is completed. The process starts with:

* basic training on computer usage for anyone who needs it

* an audit of the laptops and IT equipment to identify gaps and so everyone has access to  the equipment needed by go-live day.

SMEs (subject matter experts) from the EPR team are acting as points of contact covering up to five wards and departments each.

System demonstrations will also be available in Simulation Centres and in wards and departments.

Watch this space for inflight updates on our amazing journey.