A framework, with the value of up to £10 million, has opened for a national agreement for the provision of data validation services, to enable NHS organisations to “access highly specialised support to enable the testing and validation of patient data, as part of the process of migrating from a legacy PAS to a modern EPR system”.
Eligible users of the framework agreement include “all UK NHS bodies”, including NHS trusts and health boards, as well as corporations, individuals, or voluntary sector organisations who fall within certain parameters including being financed by an NHS contracting authority or acting on behalf of the public sector in delivering services of a public nature.
Highlighting that a number of NHS organisations are currently in the process of migrating from a legacy PAS to a modern EPR, the notice cites challenges such as Referral to Treatment (RTT) compliance, stating that since “many legacy PAS are not Referral to Treatment (RTT) compliant”, RTT Pathways and associated events for migration “have to be manually manufactured from existing referrals and outcomes”.
The notice also highlights “significant data quality issues” that can arise with legacy data, and the impact of this on “the management and integrity of that data prior to implementation of a new EPR system”. NHS organisations may also lack the in-house expertise or capacity for data cleansing, it continues, “and may require expert assistance in undertaking a data validation exercise” prior to planned migration.
With this in mind, the framework sets out to offer NHS organisations this expert assistance, including in the validation of incomplete pathways and in understanding data quality issues which might affect migration to an EPR system, allowing them to offer assurance on the accuracy of patient data and “support the optimal use of the EPR from implementation”.
Requirements of a supplier, as outlined in the notice, include ensuring “effective knowledge transfer”, and assisting clients in developing an in-house central validation and booking team “to achieve business as usual booking and reporting post the EPR implementation”.
The deadline given for submission of bids is 21 February 2025, with the expected duration given as 23.5 months with the option to extend for up to a further 24 months. To learn more about the framework agreement, please click here.
Wider trend: EPR implementation
A HTN Now webinar from December focused on early preparation for EPR implementation and how to avoid common pitfalls, with expert panellists discussing topics including baselining and planning for EPR implementation, Organisational Readiness Assessments, assessing training requirements, and more. We also looked at common pitfalls including a lack of early buy-in, inadequate resource allocation, failing to prioritise training, and data quality and migration; as well as how HIMSS EMRAM (electronic medical records adoption model), INFRAM (infrastructure and adoption) and AMAM (analytics) maturity models can provide targeted roadmaps to ensure a smooth implementation.
Back in October of last year, NHS England published a contract notice with an estimated total value of £13.3 million for an “experienced, multi-skilled, rapid response intervention service also known as a Tiger Teams service” to support EPR delivery across England. The notice cited challenges for trusts around accessing skilled short-term resources to support EPR delivery, and looked to the provision of “Tiger Teams” of specialists commissioned to deliver a “time-boxed service on behalf of the trust where other attempts to fulfil the requirement have been unsuccessful”. In particular, it highlighted that the frontline digitisation programme does not include the resources to provide targeted, hands-on support of this kind, and that an additional service is required to ensure overall success.
In recent news, East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust announced it had selected its preferred electronic patient record supplier for EPR programme EmPoweR, which will be designed to bring together inpatient and outpatient data, ePMA, order comms and theatres into a single EPR. Moorfields Eye Hospital awarded a £16.7 million EPR contract to Meditech via the NHS LPP Clinical Digital Solutions Framework Agreement, whilst Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust and Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust announced their partnership for a £65 million contract agreement with Oracle Health.
