Wrexham Maelor Hospital successfully implements an Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) system
Wrexham Maelor Hospital has successfully implemented an Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) system. Following a successful early adopter implementation in the Heddfan Unit in December. This marks a major milestone in the organisation’s digital transformation.
The implementation was delivered through a highly collaborative approach, with a significant number of colleagues on site to support the go-live. Clinical teams worked together to manually transcribe more than 600 inpatients onto the digital system over a three-day period, before supporting ward teams to transition to electronic prescribing as part of routine patient care.
As a result, all inpatient wards in Wrexham Maelor Hospital are live with electronic prescribing, a landmark achievement for BCU and an important step forward in the Health Board’s wider digital transformation journey.
Lois Lloyd, Chief Pharmacist, said:
“The successful rollout of EPMA at Wrexham Maelor Hospital is a significant milestone in improving medicines safety and optimising how we use digital technology to support patient care.
This has been a complex piece of work, and I want to recognise the commitment and collaboration of pharmacy, clinical and digital teams in making this happen. EPMA provides a stronger, safer platform for prescribing and administration, and it represents an important step forward in modernising medicines management for our patients.”
Mandy Jones, Deputy Executive Nurse Director, added:
“The introduction of EPMA at Wrexham Maelor Hospital as part of our first phase of the roll-out is a major step forward for nursing and patient safety. Digital prescribing and medicines administration support clearer communication, reduce risk and help ensure patients receive the right medicines at the right time.
This achievement reflects the dedication of our nursing teams working alongside medical, pharmacy and digital colleagues to deliver safer, more reliable care. It is a strong example of how teamwork and innovation can improve patient experience and outcomes.”
Dr Clara Day, Executive Medical Director.
“Delivering the implantation of this EPMA safely across all inpatient wards in a live acute environment required coordinated effort, rapid decision-making and sustained commitment from teams across the organisation, both those brought onto site and those who provide patient care. The successful transition from paper to digital prescribing, within such a compressed timeframe, represents a significant operational and clinical achievement. We will continue to roll out the system to Central and West over the next couple of months. I thank everyone for their hard work and patience to ensure we have been able to introduce this step forward in patient safety.”
To support this achievement and ensure a safe and stable go-live, extensive support arrangements were put in place throughout the implementation weekend and continue following go-live. A dedicated call centre operated from 7am to 11pm, alongside on-the-ground clinical and digital support teams across the hospital, providing wrap-around assistance to staff as they adapted to the new system.
Following the successful acute go-live, the programme now moves into its next phase, with East community sites scheduled to commence ePMA implementation from 20 January.
Key learning from Wrexham Maelor will directly inform upcoming deployments, helping to refine and strengthen the approach ahead of implementations in Central in February and West in March.
This weekend’s success reflects the commitment, teamwork and professionalism of everyone involved, and represents a significant step forward in improving medicines safety, efficiency and patient care.