Khoosh Seewooruttun
Digital Health Lead Nurse
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
2020 Bio: Khoosh started working in the health and social care sector in 2000. Since, he has worked in various organisations across the UK including the NHS, private sector and higher education institutions. Being a registered mental health nurse and teacher, Khoosh has got extensive clinical, managerial, teaching and governance experience.
Khoosh is an advocate for improving patient safety and staff development. Working in digital health allows Khoosh to bring all his experience and passion together. Khoosh has been involved in using technology to transform the way care is delivered having led on the development and deployment of electronic observations at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM). As Digital Health Lead Nurse, Khoosh works closely with clinical and digital colleagues to support the Trust digital transformation strategy.
Digital Pioneer Fellowship project summary: Implementing an electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) system as a replacement for paper prescription and medicines administration, and bringing together the pharmacy process for dispensing and the electronic patient record as an interoperable system. This is more than just a digital system; is it a new way of working that gives staff access to improved, up-to-date information so they can deliver safer and more efficient care to patients. With remote working being the new normal, this allows staff to access information remotely and at their fingertips.
The paper-based system is labour intensive and prone to errors of all kinds due to poor handwriting, unclear abbreviations and dosages as well as unclear records of medicines administration. In addition, when prescriptions are phoned-in or scanned to pharmacy, verbal instructions are misunderstood. Often, paper prescription charts are misplaced, in ward round or sent to pharmacy which can lead to missed doses. Being a paper-based system, means information is held locally, not on the patient electronic record and not readily available to all those involved in the care of the patient.
A supplier has been appointed and an inpatient pilot is due to start in the coming weeks.
Estimated number of patients / staff impacted by the project: SLaM employs over 5000 people and provide services to people living in the London boroughs of Bromley, Bexley, Croydon, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Wandsworth and Richmond, with a combined population of nearly two million people. There are 52 inpatient wards across four main hospital sites, some satellite inpatient services as well as over 100 community and addictions teams spread across south London.
Goal(s) for the programme: To replace paper-based prescription with an electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) system to all services across the Trust where medication is prescribed, dispensed and administered. This will help reduce medication errors, improve patient safety, reduce time spent re-writing charts, improve accessibility to information, and improve staff experience and efficiency.