The Island's hospital main IT system has been successfully upgraded this weekend, with the project delivered on time and under budget.

Minister for Health and Social Care, Howard Quayle MHK, said: "Following Tynwald approval last June, a very significant but essential investment has been made to the Island's hospital computer system. The upgrade provides a wide range of enhancements, but importantly provides a solid foundation for future updates to our systems to make care safer for patients and its delivery more efficient.”

"This upgrade has been a major undertaking with thousands of hours of work by staff within the Department and the Cabinet Office as well as the supplier System C. Over 1,200 staff have been to training sessions to support the transition. The migration from the old system to new went well, all while services continued to be delivered to patients. We are only a couple of days into the new system and there is a huge amount of change for staff directly involved to absorb and it will take some time before everyone is fully familiar with the new system. To successfully achieve the migration however is a significant achievement and I would like to extend my thanks and congratulations to all involved in this project and importantly all of our front line and administration staff who are impacted by this change and are working through the new system."

The new software represents the first major upgrade to the Island's patient administration system, called Medway, since it originally launched in 2008. The upgrade not only makes significant strides in modernising the software's functionality for staff, but also provides opportunities for further digital services to be launched, such as electronically tracking a patient's condition, digitally managing clinical risks, electronic prescriptions and a new electronic document management system - all of which form part of Government's new Digital Strategy.

The Minister added: "It's taken 12 months of hard work, but we now have a springboard for the future. The Medway upgrade represents not the end but the beginning of a journey to ensure that we can maximise technology with the clear goal of improving care for patients and freeing up our front line staff to devote their time on front line activities."

Medway is one of the most widely used hospital IT systems in the British Isles with around 40 UK NHS Trusts using the platform.