Government commits additional £240m in funding towards electronic prescriptions and digital medical records

The Department announced in May that it had set aside £260 million to fund new systems that will allow for patients' digital medical records to be accessed across the NHS, as well as to be used to end paper-based prescriptions.

Now it has announced that it has topped up this funding to £500m and that that figure will be matched by local health and care bodies with the £1 billion total to be put towards the new technology needed to deliver the reforms over the next three years.

"The new funding will help deliver the government’s commitment to allow everyone to book GP appointments and order repeat prescriptions online by March 2015, as well as allowing people online access to their GP record," the DoH said. "Doctors, nurses and social care professionals who are providing emergency care, including out-of hours, will be able to access patients’ complete medical details routinely across the country for the first time, saving time, helping reduce errors, and allowing them to give personal and effective treatment."

"The funding should lead to an increase in, for example, ‘electronic prescribing’ – which means computer generated prescriptions sent by doctors directly to pharmacies, linked to barcodes unique to each patient. This kind of technology plays a huge part in cutting errors and improving safety," it added.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the £1bn fund will not be used to find a "one size fits all" technology, but that it would instead "empower local clinicians and health services to come together and find innovative solutions for their patients".

Earlier this year Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted the NHS to become "paperless" by 2018, in a move he said could reduce costs and improve services. He said health providers should have access to a single digital medical record for each patient. Hunt's comments came after accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reported that up to £4.4 billion of savings could be made in the NHS if information and technology were better utilised.

The proposals drew criticism from privacy campaigners, but Hunt insisted that there would be "protocols" put in place to ensure that patient records were only accessed "when necessary" and with individuals' permission.

"A single patient record will help make the patient journey from hospital to home seamless, giving professionals from different health and care organisations access to information when they need it most, without patients having to repeat themselves every time they speak to a different doctor, nurse or care professional," Tim Kelsey, national director for patients and information for NHS England, said.

NHS Trusts will be able to apply to access the funds that have now been allocated to help with digitisation.

Separately, the DoH has published its intention to open a procurement to find a company capable of providing its NHS electronic staff record (ESR) service. The successful bidder could earn up to £450m from the arrangements. The Department has an existing outsourcing contract with a supplier which is expected to end in August 2015.

Although full details of what would be required under the terms of a new contractual arrangement will not be set out until a later time, the DoH said that any new supplier would be expected to "to transition the existing system (which will be a DoH asset from expiry of the current contract) from the incumbent supplier, operate the existing system and undertake future enhancements to increase functionality in the asset".

The Department said it hoped suppliers could help it to shape the scope of the contractual requirements through "a series of market engagement events".