HMMS
The Health Service Executive has embarked on implementing a new national Hospital Medicines Management System (HMMS) across acute hospital and Community Healthcare Organisation pharmacy departments in Ireland. HMMS will provide modern medicines management software enabling hospital pharmacies to effectively manage medication inventories, ward medication supply, patient specific supply, and associated procurement processes. The HMMS vendor was contracted by the HSE after a detailed procurement process. The project contract was signed in Q2 2022 and is being rolled out on a phased basis across the country.
Some key features offered by HMMS include comprehensive stock control, order processing, label printing, reporting, and integration with dispensary robots and automated dispensing cabinets. HMMS interfaces with several other HSE systems; Hospital Finance systems including IFMS, hospital Patient Administration Systems enabling single data entry and seamless data-flows between Pharmacy, Finance, and other hospital information systems.
By leveraging global medication data standards, HMMS will enhance patient safety through standardised datasets, catalogues, and semantic interoperability. It will also support ePrescribing and eDischarge to create a modern, efficient medicines management ecosystem in Irish public hospitals.
HMMS has been deployed to the first two hospital sites in Galway University Hospital and Merlin Park University Hospital. Upcoming implementation sites over the next few months include Rotunda Hospital Dublin, St Vincent's University Hospital Dublin, Tallaght University Hospital, CHI Crumlin, Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, CHO9 Phoenix Pharmacy Dublin, and South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, Cork.
The HMMS project team is working closely with each hospital to plan the phased roll-out and ensure a smooth transition to the new HMMS platform. Once fully adopted nationally, the system is expected to deliver significant benefits in patient safety, workforce productivity, inventory optimisation, and prescribing accuracy.
Digital for Care 2030 is the Framework under which all digital health solutions for the HSE are co-ordinated, streamlined and implemented. It provides a strategic and innovative plan to advance key Slaintecáre programmes and deliver integrated care that is fully aligned with the Health Regions structure.
This programme is critical in setting the future policy direction under Digital for Care, for considering opportunities offered by current and emerging technologies, and are fundamental in the delivery of digital health transformation in Ireland.