30th June 2026
Powys Teaching Health Board goes live with Better Meds in second Welsh Better go-live
Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) has successfully gone live with electronic prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) solution, Better Meds, marking the beginning of a phased digital transformation programme across the Health Board’s secondary care services.
The implementation represents Better’s second live deployment in Wales, following the successful rollout of Better Meds at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The programme also forms part of the wider national Digital Medicines programme led by Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW).
Powys Teaching have also become the first health board in Wales to start both reading medicines on hospital admission and writing discharge medicines with the Shared Medicines Record (SMR), a consolidated and shared record of medicines, allergies, and intolerances for every patient in Wales, marking a significant step in helping create a truly consolidated medicines record for patients.
The introduction of SMR read and write within ePMA means a patient’s medicines record is both accessed and updated in a single system. Clinicians can read current medicines and allergies on admission, and any changes made during care or at discharge are written back to the record, ensuring accurate, up-to-date information is available wherever the patient receives care. This creates a single, accurate medicines record that supports safer treatment, improves continuity of care, and reduces the risk of errors as patients move between services.
The initial Powys go-live took place at Bronllys Hospital, where inpatient ward staff transitioned from paper drug charts to electronic prescribing and medicines administration. The deployment is the first phase of a wider implementation programme across Powys community hospitals and inpatient services.
PTHB provides community and specialist services across Powys, a predominantly rural county covering approximately a quarter of the land mass of Wales. Care is delivered across nine community hospital sites spanning large geographical distances, creating unique challenges around accessibility, medicines management, workforce distribution, infrastructure, and cross-border care delivery.
The implementation of Better Meds and integration with the Shared Medicines Record is intended to support safer and more efficient medicines management by replacing paper-based processes with a digital prescribing system that improves visibility of patient information, reduces the risk of medication errors, and releases more time for direct patient care. The programme is also expected to support improved auditability, greater access to patient-level data, and more connected care delivery across the Health Board.
Phase one of the programme will focus on inpatient wards across Powys community hospitals throughout 2026. Future phases are expected to expand into outpatient services, theatres, and maternity care from 2026 onwards.
Kate Wright, Director of Medical Services and SRO at PTHB, said: “This is a very exciting and important development for the Health Board. Not only will it help to improve the safety of clinical services, but it will help staff deliver medicines more efficiently. My thanks to support from staff who have worked tirelessly to implement the system and I look forward to seeing its use grow as it is implemented across the Health Board.”
Michelle Sweet, Ward Manager at PTHB, noted: “The introduction of ePMA has been a big change for the team, and it’s taken a bit of getting used to, particularly in the first few days. Any shift away from something familiar is always going to take some adjustment, but overall, it has settled in well. One of the biggest differences is simply not having to go looking for drug charts anymore. Everything is there when you need it, it’s clear and readable, and that has made a noticeable difference to how smoothly things run.
The system is user-friendly, and there’s definitely a learning curve, but it’s not as daunting as some initially thought it might be. You can see confidence building day by day as staff get more familiar with it.”
Stefan Siekierski, Delivery Director at Better, said: “We’re proud to support Powys Teaching Health Board on this important stage of its digital transformation journey. Delivering ePMA across a health board as geographically dispersed and operationally unique as Powys is a significant achievement and reflects the strength of collaboration between Powys, Better, and partners across NHS Wales.
This go-live not only marks our second live deployment in Wales, but also another step forward in the wider national ambition to modernise medicines management through connected digital systems.”
Dr Lesley Hewer, DHCW Chair of the National ePMA Programme, said: “It was great to see first-hand the implementation of the ePMA system at the Llewelyn ward in Bronllys Community Hospital. I was impressed with how the staff took it in their stride; with the extensive amount of time, effort and preparation the team had done being evidently worthwhile. Powys is such a vast geographical area with some staff attending the clinical environment 2-3 times a week, so by proving remote access capabilities with the new system, it is clear to see the time saving benefits this new system will provide. It is exciting to see the SMR read and write functionality starting to be used within PTHB. You can see the potential for this in Wales as being a gamechanger; the jewel in the secondary care e-PMA implementation.”
The implementation was delivered collaboratively by teams from Better and Powys Teaching Health Board, including clinical, pharmacy, informatics, operational, and digital teams. The organisations worked together to deliver the go-live across remote and varied care settings, despite the complexities associated with rural healthcare delivery, inconsistent connectivity across some sites, significant reliance on cross-border services, and the operational realities of geographically dispersed hospitals.
The Powys go-live further strengthens Better’s presence in Wales and reflects growing momentum behind digitally enabled medicines management transformation across NHS Wales organisations. Better now supports multiple Welsh health boards as part of the national ambition to modernise prescribing and medicines administration through safer, connected digital systems.
ENDS
Media contact:
Isobel Billington (on behalf of Better)
07464794081