Southport Charity Christmas Parade 2019

THE annual Southport Charity Christmas Parade will be held on Sunday, 1 December 2019, from 4:00pm to around 7:00pm. The event, hosted by Lifetime Experience Events, will see a convoy of Cars, Vans, Trucks and Floats, decorated with Christmas lights pulling through the Town. The event will have a toy appeal for 5 children's homes in the North West. This event has over the last few years produced the 'Biggest Vehicle Light Parade' in the North West. We can confirm that it includes celebrity appearances from both Mrs Santa and the Elves. The route has yet to be announced, but it will be leaving Pontins in Ainsdale, trucking through Birkdale and ending up in Southport on the Promenade. To take part or to donate toys, please contact Adam Brown on:- 07927710698.

Lancashire to receive ₤1.9 million for rollout of digital Hospital prescriptions

PATIENTS in Lancashire will benefit from new digital prescription technology backed by ₤1.9 million of Government investment, the Minister for Health confirmed. The technology will see Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust move away from handwritten prescriptions, helping improve patient safety, saving the NHS time and money and offering benefits to patients by:-

► Reducing medication errors by up to 30% when compared with the old paper systems.

► Ensuring fast access to potentially lifesaving information on prescribed medicines.

► Building up a complete, single electronic record which reduces duplication of information gathering.

The funding for the next tax year, 2020/2021 is the 2nd wave from a ₤78 million pot, to improve patient care, by speeding up the implementation of electronic prescribing systems across the NHS over 3 years. in 2018, 13 other trusts received a share of ₤16 million.

Minister for Health Edward Argar said:- "Electronic prescriptions in our Hospitals will not only do away with old fashioned paper prescriptions but can help prevent avoidable and potentially catastrophic medication errors. As part of our LongTerm Plan for the NHS we're committed to giving our hardworking staff access to modern systems which save them valuable time and makes every penny of taxpayers' money count. Following the previous funding announcement, I'm delighted to confirm the funding allocations for these 25 Trusts as part of our mission to upgrade NHS Hospitals with modern technology so patients get the best and safest care possible."

The successful 25 trusts span acute, mental health and community services. The funding will support them to fulfil the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to implement electronic prescribing systems across all providers. The roll out of these systems will help build a more efficient healthcare system by freeing up clinicians' time and digitising outdated practices.

Matthew Gould, chief executive of NHSX, said:- "Switching from paper prescriptions to digital in our Hospitals will make mistakes less likely, free up staff time and ultimately improve patients' care and health. This is part of the NHS Long Term Plan to support health service organisations to use digital technology to improve the care they can give patients, and allow staff to focus on delivering care, rather than on time consuming processes."

Simon Priestley, Chief Pharmacist of Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, which received ₤940,000 in the 1st wave of funding said:- "We are at the early stages of our rollout of electronic prescribing and medicines management system and colleagues across the Trust are really supportive of the system we are implementing and keen for their areas to start prescribing electronically. We anticipate it will improve accuracy and reduce the number of medication errors; both in terms of Doctors prescribing and nurses administrating drugs."

The news follows the recent announcement that, following rigorous testing involving 60 GP practices and hundreds of pharmacies, Phase 4 of the Electronic Prescription Service will be rolled out nationally next month in primary care. This will create a faster and more secure process for GPs to prescribe and dispense prescriptions. Patients will see little change to the way they are prescribed medicines by their GP, or how they request and collect them from pharmacies. However, by increasing efficiencies, reducing the amount of paper processing required and reducing prescribing errors, this latest development will save the NHS ₤300 million a year by 2021.