Thousands of lives could be saved if the NHS made better use of information technology, a report claims.

Research by the University Hospitals Birmingham trust into use of their own advanced IT system found a 17 per cent drop in deaths over the last year, equating to some 16,000 patients.

The in-house developed 'Clinical Dashboard' system has led to a staggering 50 per cent reduction in the number of medication errors at the trust, according to publictechnology.net.

However, while the results in Birmingham were encouraging, figures for the rest of the UK, where similar systems aren't used, remained static.

Consequently, the trust recommends other hospitals employ the same measures, which includes a facility which automatically reminds staff when to administer medication, those with nurse manager jobs may be interested to learn.

The trust initially used the advanced IT system to "bear down on errors" with surveillance on the wards which, together with more stringent internal policies, can help hold staff accountable for mistakes.

The intelligent system alerts staff as to any concerns when they input patient information, such as changes in temperature or whether prescribed drugs might do them any harm. It also monitors infection control and falls.

Health minister Simon Burns told BBC News that the system was "an excellent example of how the NHS can harness information to improve patient care".

"Our ambition is to unleash a revolution of information throughout the NHS, so that everyone benefits from a modern, responsive service," he said.