Ambulance staff across Kent will soon be using iPads to complete patient records and contact hospitals.

After successful trials in Thanet, the South East Coast Ambulance Service’s NHS Foundation Trust’s electronic Patient Clinical Record (ePCR) project is being rolled out across the county.

It means patients who come into contact with ambulance staff and paramedics will see them use an iPad, which the trust says will help with completing patient records electronically and streamlining communication with hospitals, saving both paper and time.

The trust says the ePCR also improves information security and creates more legible records.

Patient records can be emailed to hospitals, where they are added into the hospital’s own A&E system or printed as a paper copy.

The project was initially tested by just 20 staff in Thanet last year, before being expanded to another 200 clinicians, and now across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Paramedic Mike Earl was one of the first to use the iPad and ePCR application.

He said: “This electronic system has a number of benefits and is a really worthwhile innovation. The quality of the documentation is better and more legible and there are no constraints to a text box like there is with a paper form. Also the data we log can be captured and audited instantly.”

SECamb are the only ambulance trust in the country using the electronic device for clinical records.

Project manager, Karen Mann, said: “We’re really pleased to enter the next stage of the rollout of this important project. Our ePCR will play a major part in our plans to streamline the handover process with hospitals and also reduce the amount of paper we use.

“Clinicians will also benefit from the system during assessments of patients who do not require hospital treatment and we expect it to further improve our links with local healthcare teams and GP surgeries.”

Staff will be trained to use the system and the majority will be using iPads by Spring 2017.

SECAmb’s head of IT, Mark Chivers, said: “This is an important project for the trust. Not only does it improve patient care and efficiency but it also takes us forward on our mission to be digitally mature. The iPad is intuitive and the clinicians use it not just for the ePCRs but also for messaging, web browsing and more, while keeping data safe utilizing the iOS’ inherent security strengths.”