Northamptonshire ICB has shared an update on how the Northamptonshire Care Record (NCR) is supporting critical services with access to patient data.
The ICB notes recent developments to improve the user experience and functionality of the platform, with the ICB reporting easier navigation between information areas, better “at a glance” visibility of key information, and a “smoother, more intuitive” user experience.
The record is said to be playing an essential role in helping to support teams to deal with winter pressures, with 50,000 views per month across the region, reducing duplication, preventing delays, and improving system coordination.
New users have been onboarded from Corby Urgent Treatment Centre and Derbyshire Health United, including the out of hours service and NHS 111. Users from Marie Curie are also benefiting from access to the NCR to view information across ReSPECT plans, medications, and recent hospital activity to support patient care.
Data has been introduced from vaccinations and immunisations at Northamptonshire Community Foundation Trust, allowing clinicians to check vaccination status without needing to search through multiple systems.
Elsewhere, the introduction of new copy-and-paste functionality is saving valuable time according to the ICB, giving clinicians the ability to update information more efficiently and with less manual duplication.
“The work to improve the experience for our clinical and care colleagues, the increase in organisations using our care record, and the improvement of the data coming in – it all adds to the quality of what the Northamptonshire Care Record does for people in our county,” said Matthew Hutton, digital lead at Northamptonshire ICB. “It has been a massive effort from my team and colleagues across our provider organisations to make such large steps forward. We always have more to do, but 2025 has been a great year for improving how we share health and care across Northamptonshire.”
Wider trend: Health data
For a recent HTN Now webinar on the role of data and digital in supporting population health management (PHM), we were joined by a panel including Victoria Townshend, portfolio director (associate) with the GIRFT Elective Team; Mayur Vibhuti, CCIO and GP clinical lead for digital at Kent and Medway ICB; and Harry Thirkettle, director of health and innovation from Aire Logic. Our panellists explored and discussed approaches to PHM, successes, challenges, what works and what doesn’t, through to measuring the impact of PHM interventions.
East London NHS Foundation Trust has outlined its use of data in informing patient care and patient flow, deploying digital screens, interactive dashboards, and PowerBI. 22 wards across the trust now have digital screens showcasing real-time data on aspects of flow, safety, care plans, observation status, Mental Health Act status, key assessments, and expected discharge date. Co-designed with clinicians and service users, the screens update every 15 minutes, supporting safety huddles, team meetings, and handovers.
NHS England has published a contract worth an estimated £600,000, aiming to source an “evaluation partner” for the Federated Data Platform programme. According to the contract, the evaluation partner will be required to demonstrate the programme’s current and future impact, assessing whether it has achieved its objectives. The scope extends to capturing key learnings, and demonstrating value for money and accountability to its stakeholders, NHS England continues.
