NHS England has published the latest Digital Maturity Assessment report for 2024 and 2025, offering a system-wide view of digital maturity by trust and ICB. By including 2024 data alongside latest 2025 scores, it offers further insight into progress for each organisation.
The CIO or a nominated deputy for each organisation is responsible for submitting data that accurately represents digital progress, NHSE states. Assessments are tailored by care setting, with scores across the different settings said to be “complimentary but not 1:1 matches”, and integrated care trusts invited to submit separate entries for each setting if applicable.
Key findings for the period April to June 2025 include that whilst 93 percent of providers are using an EPR, only 30 percent have “fully integrated bi-directional data flows”. 90 percent of providers report having a central data repository, with two-thirds of these including both clinical and non-clinical data; and “almost all” providers state that their staff can access a Shared Care Record, with 90 percent having the ability to do this directly through their EPR or single sign-on to the Shared Care Record system.
On rankings, organisations are split by mental health, community, acute and ambulance service providers, with specialist trusts included.
For acute trusts the highest ranked are Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, both with a score of 3.6. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust scored 3.5; and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust scored 3.3. A total of five acutes each scored 3.2: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Barts Health NHS Trust.
For trusts under community, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, scored 3.8. With scores of 3.4, are Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust, and Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust scored 3.3; and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust scored 3.2. North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust all scored 3.1.
For mental health providers, the top score is Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust with 3.7, followed by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust with 3.4, then Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust with 3.2. Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust scored 3.0; and Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, East London NHS Foundation Trust, and North East London NHS Foundation Trust all scored 2.9.
The best performing ambulance trusts were London Ambulance Service, East of England Ambulance Service, and Yorkshire Ambulance Service, all achieving a score of 2.6.
Ian Townend, deputy chief technology officer for NHS England, thanked colleagues across the NHS for their time in submitting data, enabling a 100 percent response rate. “The publication of these results reflects our commitment to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement. The data will support NHS organisations, commissioners, and partners in planning and prioritising digital investments and capability building,” he added.
On Linkedin, former NHS England CTO, Sonia Patel shared how “this is a real call to action. Hopefully it sparks the right conversations, strengthens partnerships, and—most importantly—drives the changes needed to deliver meaningful, modern services for the population.”
Wider trend: Digital maturity in action
HTN was joined for a webinar exploring the role of the CIO now and in the future by a panel of experts including Ravi Sahota Thandi, interim operational CIO at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust; Kate Warriner, chief transformation and digital officer at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and #1 in the CIO 100 rankings; and Rhian Bulmer, chief customer officer at Radar Healthcare. Our panel shared their own experiences, discussed the role of the CIO in supporting and developing digital maturity and skills, delivering 10-Year Plan priorities, and what the next 5 – 10 years will look like. Also noted were emerging technologies and opportunities, along with ways of realising digitally-enabled system working.
HTN was joined by a panel including Ciara Moore, EPR operations director at Bath, Salisbury and Great Western Group, Stuart Cooney, CTO at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, and Julian Wiggins, healthcare solution director at Rackspace Technology, for a discussion focusing on cloud adoption, AI maturity, and cyber resilience. Panellists explored how healthcare organisations are tackling delivery, legacy systems, and rising digital expectations, and what this means for future strategy and plans. We also looked at the fragmented cloud landscape, integration pressures, legacy infrastructure, AI, and the growing urgency around cyber resilience, finishing by asking where NHS leaders should prioritise investment and focus in 2026.
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. For 2025/26, the focus is on delivering the Nervecentre EPR, HDFT continues, as well as the improvement of overall digital maturity scores. Outcomes from the Digital Maturity Assessment are being analysed to identify and plan opportunities for improvement. Moving into 2026/27, the board will be looking at the delivery of enhanced EPR functionality, EPR optimisation, and “starting to realise benefits”.
