South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland has shared plans to go live with their electronic patient record programme, encompass, in November this year.
The trust has been sharing information and building momentum with regards to the the EPR launch via their Twitter account. In one such tweet, the trust states that the move to digital records through encompass is “the biggest transformation in health and social care here in a generation”.
In a short video posted to South Eastern Trust’s twitter this week, key members involved in the journey express their excitement for the upcoming go-live and the various ways in which the EPR programme will improve the delivery of health and care services across the country.
Roisin Coulter, chief executive of SEHSC trust, comments: “We will be the first trust in Northern Ireland to go live with the encompass programme this year”, adding that they are “absolutely delighted to be bringing encompass to Northern Ireland. This is a globally led system that puts patients at the centre of everything we do. This is a transformation programme providing an electronic patient care record for the whole population.”
Andrew Hamilton, deputy medical lead for encompass, says: “One of the main benefits of encompass will be safer and more effective care. Patients won’t have to tell their story over and over again to different healthcare professionals, as there will be a single record across the entire region.” He adds that “digital safety checks will be built into the system to alert for security risks,” ensuring the continued safety and confidentiality of patient information within the EPR.
In another video, emergency department consultant Anna MacDonald shares that she has been through a similar digital transformation when working at two hospitals in Canada. “It comes with lots of challenges, however, when you come out of the other end, it really is worth it,” she comments. She predicts that the system “is going to make the way that we work in our day-to-day lives as clinicians easier. It’s going to streamline some of the processes that we have, particularly communicating between specialities and between hospitals.”
Encompass is set to go live on 9th November 2023.
Health and social care in Northern Ireland is going DIGITAL 🖥️
It’s called encompass and it’s the biggest transformation in health and social care here in a generation 🚀
Wave goodbye to paper records and charts! 📲
So what is it?
A MUST watch as it’s coming in 120 days 👇 pic.twitter.com/3oP3KhxHMo
— South Eastern Trust (@setrust) July 6, 2023
