The encompass patient record system in Northern Ireland has gone live at the final two trusts, said to provide a single digital care record for every citizen in receipt of health and social care, and granting service users across the region the ability to access health information online via the My Care patient portal.
The Southern and Western Health and Social Care Trusts completed their go-live on the system, which is now operational across both organisations. They join South Eastern, Belfast and Northern Trusts which went live over the last 18 months.
The encompass system was built by the Northern Ireland health and social care service in partnership with Epic, with input also from other sources including trusts and the Department of Health. Mike Nesbitt, Northern Ireland’s health minister, shared news of the “significant milestone”, thanking those who played a key role, and adding: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and has allowed Northern Ireland to modernise our systems and fundamentally improve how we deliver care.”
Tom Simpson, deputy CDIO at the Department of Health, is also quoted as saying: “This isn’t just a new IT system, it is about changing how the sector works so that our staff have the right tools to deliver the best service for all in Northern Ireland.” Simpson noted the impact the system will have on offering the health and care workforce streamlined access to “the right information at the right time”, reducing paper records and offering better quality data to improve services for the future.
The publication of a three-year plan for health and social care in Northern Ireland late last year outlined the focus on delivering a range of citizen-facing digital services and investments in digital capabilities, as part of a wider drive to “stabilise, reform, and deliver” health and social care services across the nation.
Wider trend: Transforming patient records
NHS England has shared a preliminary market consultation and request for information from suppliers for a single patient record, aiming to gain innovative ideas from the market, consider all options available, and approach the SPR in “the most effective way possible”. Draft minimum functionality is outlined, along with a request for feedback from suppliers on how NHSE can maximise the value of current infrastructure in the development process.
For HTN Now, we were joined last month for a panel discussion on the topic of optimising and adding value to EPRs by an expert panel including Ciara Moore, unified EPR programme director at Mid and South Essex and Essex Partnership University; Neill Crump, digital strategy director at Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust; Stacey Spence, EPR programme manager at Medway NHS FT; and Andrew Harrison, product manager at Imprivata. The session focused on approaches to EPR and next steps following initial implementation, as well as what the future holds for EPR best practice.
We heard from David Newey, interim chief digital transformation officer at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, who discussed the future of EPRs, challenges around implementation, and how vendors can better support this transformation.
