The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust has extended its contract with Meditech to support the continuity of its core clinical information system whilst undergoing a procurement for a new EPR solution.
The £2.8 million contract is set to run from 19 March 2026 to 18 March 2028, with the option to extend to 18 March 2030 to accommodate procurement activity.
The trust plans to utilise the contract term to prepare, tender, and implement a new solution, working toward strategic convergence of core clinical information systems in accordance with NHS long-term strategy.
Initial consultancy work is to begin “imminently”, according to The Rotherham, which adds: “The complexity of the procurement and the steer to achieve convergence at a strategic level requires the Trust to Direct Award at this time.”
In a 12-month digital strategy update, the trust listed EPR as a key objective for the year ahead, with the EPR programme said to be agreed and work progressing. “Significant” progress is also noted around patient engagement and the development of the pre-operative assessment pathway, which has entered its first phase.
Meditech triage implementation has been scheduled, and the transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is underway. Digital tools such as PowerBI are helping to analyse trust productivity, with the board also noting that digital is helping to reduce labour-intensive processes for the trust’s priority of waiting list validation. The trust plans to roll out electronic triage in additional specialties, with scores visible in PowerBI to improve prioritisation and efficient use of clinic and theatre capacity.
Wider trend: EPR and EPR optimisation
For our EPR feature series, we took a deep dive and reflected on some of the progress made around EPRsover the last 12 months, focusing-in on implementations, on optimisation and benefits realisation, on future plans, and on insights from the wider health and care sector. This included looking at implementations and optimisation work from more than 30 NHS trusts.
East Cheshire NHS Trust has outlined five aims for 2026 and beyond following the “smoother than anticipated” go-live of its Meditech EPR in June of last year, including a major upgrade addressing “a number of the known improvement opportunities” with the system, scheduled for 21 March. By the end of June 2026, East Cheshire plans to complete the further digitisation of paper documentation across its inpatients, outpatients, and ED departments. “The focus is on high priority documents,” it states, “a top 50 have been agreed for delivery for June 2026 with available resources.” Work is also underway to optimise existing live referrals and extend the rollout of internal referral orders for other specialties, the trust notes, with a focus again on high priority referrals that can be delivered by June 2026. The pilot of results notifications for orthopaedics and gastroenterology is also to be delivered for June.
The board of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT) offered an update on the trust’s EPR implementation following the go-live of tranche one functionality in November 2025, along with plans to continue to improve digital maturity scores and a roadmap to 2028. “EPR is live and continues to be rolled out with positive signs,” the board notes. “First tranche of EPR had launched on Wednesday 19 November and the launch had gone very well with the level of engagement well received. The next target was to view results with April as the date for clinical noting.” Praise is shared for the team on delivering a successful launch, and for the decision to adopt a modular approach.
