Three More Hospitals in the United Kingdom Adopt Open Source EPR (EHR)

OpenMaxims, an electronic patient record (EPR) system developed in the United Kingdom (UK) and made available as open source software, is being adopted by three additional hospitals in the UK. The software solution is being implemented for the Blackpool Victoria Hospital, Clifton Hospital and Fleetwood Hospital, all three in England's northwest coast.

The three hospitals form the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust started implementing OpenMaxims in December.

“The new EPR will allow over 3,000 clinical staff to share a single digital patient record across its 830-bed hospital sites,” announced IMS Maxims, the company developing the open source solution. The system should help the Trust in becoming paperless by 2020, and is to increase workflow efficiencies across the hospital departments. “The Trust will also reap the benefits of the open source community to co-develop new applications faster and cheaper than if it had selected proprietary EPR software”, the company adds.

OpenMaxims patient record system was originally designed as a proprietary solution for the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The company decided to re-licence the software in June last year. The open source version was first implemented last year by the 2600-bed Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

The second NHS Trust that is implementing the software is St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages 8 hospitals and 3 clinics in Merseyside county.

Clinical priority

Last Friday, IMS Maxims released the most recent version of openMaxims. This version of the open source EPR “includes all of the enhancements made for Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust,” according to the the company announcement.

The new version adds a number of new features, including a module that helps hospital staff ensure patients are fit and suitable for surgery, and a module to help staff direct patients to the right care and service, depending on clinical priority.

More information:

openMaxims3 on Github
Press release by IMS Maxims
OSOR news item
OSOR news item