An NHS Trust has taken a big step towards going paperless after it signed a new million pound deal with a technical support system company.

Australian based Alcidion Group will deploy their first Miya Precision, Patientrack and Smartpage installations outside of the country.

The new systems will enable safer and more efficient patient care, reduce the burden of paper and deliver state-of-the-art information and technology to staff.

The five year contract is valued at £1.16 million and will help the NHS in its mission to be paperless by 2020.

Serving more than half a million people, in 800 beds the trust also has around 1,900 staff.

Under the partnership the support system will run across all wards to provide electronic patient observations, electronic paper charts, clinical assessments, clinical noting, patient flow, bed management and electronic discharge summaries for GPs.

Staff will have onlince access to patient information 24 hours a day.

Neil Perry, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust associate director for digital transformation, said: "Following a competitive tender process, we are very pleased to be working with Alcidion to implement its leading product suite across our hospitals.

"Alcidion’s solutions are the right fit to help us meet our commitment to use digital technology to improve patient outcomes and share these improvements with other NHS Trusts.

"Alcidion is a long-term solution partner for the Trust, and we believe its technology can empower our clinical staff to make informed decisions and focus on what they do best – deliver excellent patient care.

"We are very excited by the possibilities in the use of artificial intelligence and natural language processing offered by the Alcidion solution."

Alcidon's UK general manager Donald Kennedy said: "We are delighted to be partnering with Dartford and Gravesham, which is a new customer for the Group, and being one of the more progressive trusts, will become an important reference site as one of the pioneers of using real-time data and mobile devices to improve patient safety.”

The company's managing director Kate Quirke added: "“This is a major win for Alcidion. Although the company has a strong presence in the UK with Patientrack, this is the first integrated installation of the complete product platform – Miya Precision, Patientrack and Smartpage – outside of Australia.

"This contract is solid proof that we can effectively leverage our reputation and relationships in the UK and introduce an innovative new technology solution to the UK market.”