€36m IT system has ‘positive impact’ on hospitals

A number of doctors involved in the clinical validation of an IT system that cost €35m and has so far accrued around €1m in additional consultancy fees said it has had “a positive impact on the hospitals who have deployed it”.

The Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS), designed to improve mother-and-baby care, was rolled out in Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) before Christmas, after a six-month delay, followed by University Hospital Kerry in March. It has been criticised by GPs for the absence of a digital link with their IT systems, despite GPs and maternity hospitals operating a shared-care model.

However, hospital doctors involved in its rollout have written to the Irish Examiner to say that “while no service or system is perfect, the MN-CMS system has brought about improvement in management of patient information, patient safety and the communication between clinical teams”.