South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) has shared its upcoming digital and data strategy, along with key targets to determine its success, including the procurement and implementation of an EPR and a new patient engagement portal.
“The trust has been without a Digital & Data Strategy since 2021 and with the upcoming EPR procurement, it’s critical the trust has a clear strategy,” SLaM states.
Plans are for an EPR to be implemented in 2027, which it hopes will enable the delivery of additional systems such as ambient voice technology. “A clear priortisation will be required to prevent double running – AI will be part of the EPR,” it notes.
Core focuses of the new strategy include developing a digitally literate and skilled workforce to help maximise adoption of digital technologies, ensuring available data is leveraged for population health management and predictive analytics, and establishing a digitally integrated care model facilitating seamless coordination across services within and beyond the trust’s borders.
Strengthening foundations by enhancing existing systems and simplifying current processes is another focus, with SLaM planning to review current uses of tools and processes to identify duplication and opportunities for improved efficiencies. Structured “role appropriate” training will be offered to staff to support them in using available technology more effectively, clinical systems will be aligned to clinical workflows, and systems will be integrated within the trust and with partners.
Baselines will be set for all tools and systems for adoption and utilisation, along with a roadmap for adoption which can be monitored for progress. Toward building a digital and data culture, the trust also hopes to establish a Digital & Data Adoption Capability and governance to ensure clinical and operational leads are “embedded into the delivery of digital solutions”.
The board outlines a series of key targets to determine the success of the strategy, looking to achieve a 25 percent increase in the utilisation of tools and systems, a reduction in technical debt, the deployment of ambient voice technology across all clinical services, and 40 percent of back-office functionality supported by AI.
Also noted are desires to reduce hardware by 30 percent through consolidations into a datacentre, to reduce the use of paper and printing by 20 percent over three years, and to create a network of digital champions. The trust hopes to boost use of its Locating Useful Clinical Information (LUCI) digital tool, created to offer clinicians access to more accurate and timely information, by 50 percent across three years, with increased data flows and expansion to other partners.
Wider trend: EPR implementation and optimisation
For a recent HTN Now session on the topic of EPRs now and in the future, we were joined by digital leaders including Sally Mole, senior digital programme manager – digital portfolio delivery team at The Dudley Group; Keltie Jamieson, CHIO at Bermuda Hospitals Board; and David Newey, digital health expert and executive CDIO. We heard in depth from our panel in terms of their EPR journey, sharing their approach, examples, challenges and lessons learned. We went on to discuss the current position with EPRs, the opportunity, and the current need. Looking ahead, we discussed what the future of EPRs looks like in the short, medium and longer term.
The East Cheshire NHS Trust board has noted a “smoother than anticipated go-live” of its MEDITECH EPR in June of this year, noting learnings to share with other trusts, the impacts across the hospitals and the next phase of the programme. The joint go-live with Mid Cheshire NHS Foundation Trust introduced phase one functionality including emergency department, patient administration system, theatres, inpatient and outpatient clinical documentation, and radiology requesting. Inpatient electronic prescribing and medicines administration followed shortly after.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust’s board has shared plans to update the forecasted net financial benefit of its Hive EPR from £340 million as listed at the business case stage, to £390 million. Alongside this increase, the trust highlights a series of planned EPR improvements and integrations, as well as upcoming work with NHS England as part of a review of productivity increases following EPR adoption.
York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust board of directors have highlighted its Nervecentre EPR programme and future digital plans for 2026 onwards. Go-live of the first tranche of the EPR programme covers observations, clinical documentation for inpatients, urgent and emergency care, ePMA, bed management, and read-only diagnostic results, and is expected to take place at the end of Q1 2026. User acceptance testing is underway with members of the clinical digital team, with plans to expand this to more users from November onwards.
