CUMH leads the way as Irish system goes digital

It cost €35 million and involved 9,400 hours of staff training but a new electronic health record (EHR) for babies at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) will alert doctors to the possibility of sepsis and prescribing errors.

The Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (NM-CMS), launched in Cork at the weekend and earmarked for nationwide rollout, will make Ireland the first country in the world to have a single national EHR for maternity hospitals.

“Up to now it’s been on paper, as an appendix to the mother’s health record,” said Richard Corbridge, HSE chief information officer. “It means that instead of the nurse capturing information at the bedside every 20 minutes and logging it on a chart with pen and paper, this system will allow them look at a screen and see what has happened,” Mr Corbridge said.