Tres boss! How Liverpool persuaded Europe's leading wine event to come to the UK for the 1st time

THE famous:- 'Fête le Vin' in France's wine capital of Bordeaux is widely regarded as the leading European wine event; and it's making its UK debut in Liverpool. Now in its 11th year, the biennial festival regularly attracts hundreds of thousands of wine lovers to the French City's Riverfront, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Now, the acclaimed festival is heading to the UK for the 1st time and will be staged on Liverpool's equally famous waterfront.

While the 'Fête le Vin' has been previously held in:- Hong Kong, Quebec, and Brussels, organisers had never considered the UK as a host venue until now.

The Bordeaux Wine Festival will take place in Liverpool on the final May bank holiday weekend and will coincide with the spectacular:- '3 Festivals Tall Ships Regatta.' Tickets are now on sale, starting from ₤18, and are available from:- BWFLiverpool.com.

Assistant Mayor and Cabinet Member for culture, tourism and events, Councillor Wendy Simon, said:- "We are always looking at enhancing our cultural calendar and are keen to bring new and exciting events to the City. After our team met with the Bordeaux's head of tourism, it felt like this prestigious wine event would be a perfect fit for Liverpool; there are so many similarities between the 2 Cities, including our stunning waterfronts, which are both UNESCO World Heritage sites.  When they visited they were of course blown away by everything Liverpool has to offer.  It's a brilliant addition to our Liverpool 2018 programme and I'm sure it will prove to be hugely popular now the tickets are on sale."

Bordeaux and Liverpool have strong historical connections, which are closely linked to the wine trade.

Liverpool based Bordeaux wine expert Gary Adlen, who runs The Chancery in the City, said:- "The North West Region has had historic connections with Bordeaux for thousands of years. The Romans founded Bordeaux so when they came over to Chester, they brought the wine to the Region with them. The trade eventually moved from Chester to Liverpool as the port developed with barrels of wine were imported from Bordeaux to Liverpool, where it was bottled and labelled at the Liverpool Docks, before being transported to America and the rest of the UK. The trade only stopped in the 1960's, so there may still be local people who worked in the industry or remember it."

So what makes the wine in Bordeaux special?  The Region is renowned for its unique terrior, which refers to the special environmental factors which create the high quality vines.  Bordeaux and the surrounding areas produce a large and diverse variety of wines. With a vineyard area of over 120,000 hectares, it is the largest area of wine growing in the whole of France with wine made by more than 8,500 producers, with 54 varieties of wine being produced.

The 3 Festivals Tall Ships Regatta and the Bordeaux Wine Festival forms part of the Liverpool 2018 programme which celebrates 10 years since the City' game changing year, as European Capital of Culture.

The City Region Combined Authority is supporting Liverpool 2018 with ₤5 million from the Single Investment Fund. Other organisations supporting the year are:- HSBC, GREAT, Hotelplanner.com, University of Liverpool, Global, Liverpool BID Company, ACC Liverpool, Ticket Quarter Liverpool ONE, Albert Dock Liverpool, Merseytravel, Merseyrail, Arriva, Stagecoach, St Johns Shopping Centre, Arts Council England, Ticket Quarter and CreART. Independent Liverpool.

For the latest information about Liverpool 2018 visit:- VisitLiverpool.Com. 

Electronic Patient Record (EPR) System

PEOPLE in Lancashire will receive better healthcare and improved communication with their provider through a new, efficient and safe Electronic Patient Record (EPR) System.

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust is working in partnership with Servelec HSC to develop and implement a new EPR to transform the way they deliver care to patients, with the provision of Servelec HSC's market-leading EPR solution - RiO. The new EPR system will benefit both patients and health professionals by ensuring that when necessary, the relevant parties will have access to reliable patient records.

The RiO EPR system will support clinical staff at the Trust to provide high quality care, at the right time, every time, by enabling access to timely, accurate information about patients. It will improve the safety of healthcare and support clinical decision making, ensuring that a joined up approach is taken at all times.

The Trust is currently working closely with Servelec HSC to implement RiO to three early adopter teams; the Community Neuro and Stroke Service, Eating Disorders Service and Learning Disabilities Service. The Community Neuro and Stroke Service were the first service to go live on RiO from February 2018 and are working closely with the Trust's Health Informatics EPR Project team to realise RiO's benefits.

Damian Parkinson, Director of Health Informatics at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:- "We have been working really hard with our partner Servelec HSC to develop and implement a new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system to change the way that we deliver care to our patients in Lancashire. As part of this we have been working closely with clinicians in order to build the bridge between their requirements and the use of information technology. The roll out of the RiO system is going well with our early adopter teams and has been effective in supporting them to deliver high quality care, by enabling them access to timely, accurate information about our patients and to be able to share this with other health professionals involved in a person's care. We look forward to continuing to see this successfully implementing it wider across the Trust."

Helen Farmer, Community Neuro Service Manager at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:- "It is well recognised that the use of information technology is key in enhancing care and improving healthcare. The roll out of the new RiO Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system has gone really well within the Community Neuro Team, with the EPR replacing two of the systems that we were previously using within the team. This means that all of our patient records and information shared by clinicians is saved securely in one place. This has resulted in an easier hand over process for our staff, and also has supported continuity of care for the patients who access our service."

Alan Stubbs, Chief Executive Officer at Servelec HSC said:- "We are delighted that the Community Neuro and Stroke Service is now live with our Electronic Patient Record solution - RiO. It is very exciting to be part of this journey with Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust as RiO EPR will support the creation of comprehensive clinical information that will be shared electronically within the Trust and with partner providers.  We look forward to working with the team at Lancashire to help change the way the Trust delivers care to its patients and improve the patient experience, as clinicians will have the correct up-to-date information at the point of care."

The Learning Disabilities and Eating Disorders services will go live on RiO in May 2018.