The board of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has shared its plans for EPR go-live in 2027 and digital priorities such as digital literacy, data quality improvements, and the adoption of ambient voice technology and automation solutions to improve care quality and release time to care.
After delivering a full business case to NHS England for its SystmOne EPR, implementation plans are “well underway”, the board reports. Six Listening into Action teams have been assembled to direct the design and configuration work required to tailor the system to meet trust needs, and good progress is being made on staff training and the migration of data from Lorenzo. The development of new EPR super users is a priority for Q1 2026/27, and go-live is hoped to take place in 2027.
On to its Integrated Delivery Plan, the trust sets out key enablers across the digital domain, covering EPR implementation, analytics, and interoperability. “We continued to develop our digital environment in 2025/26, focusing on improving data quality, strengthening infrastructure, progressing EPR procurement, and enhancing digital literacy and user experience,” it states. “Over the next five years Digital Services will build on this work by advancing digital maturity, implementing SystmOne as our new EPR, strengthening governance, and ensuring digital tools actively support safe, effective and efficient care across the trust.”
The NSFT digital strategy is to be refreshed alongside other enabling strategies, with a target date set for July 2026, according to the board. Key areas of focus from the delivery plan cover expanded digital access options, improved usability of online services, and the development of patient-facing functionality such as a future patient portal through the EPR. Staff digital literacy will be strengthened with targeted training, devices will be refreshed to support flexible working, and usability of key systems will be optimised to promote efficient working and ensure more time can be spent on patient care.
Work will continue, NSFT goes on, to improve digital maturity and data quality, with commitments to expand the trust data warehouse, and to centralise reporting, strengthen data quality and standardise through policy and governance, and enhance dashboards and real-time analytics to underpin operational, clinical, and strategic decision making. Shared Care Record use will be expanded, integration between trust systems and partners will be worked on, and collaboration with ICBs will help deliver digital and cyber initiatives to support safer and more coordinated care.
The trust hopes to strengthen digital governance through its Digital Oversight Group, which will help prioritise digital change and maintain information security and compliance, it outlines. The adoption of new technologies will be supported through the Digital Innovation Hub, with a focus on automation solutions like robotic process automation and Power Apps, and to pilot AI tools such as AVT. Challenges are also highlighted, including siloed working between transformation and digital teams, which is recorded as “improving but still not entirely resolved”, and immature benefits realisation, meaning effective metrics are not yet in place for digital innovation.
Elsewhere, NSFT lists aims to explore partnerships with other trusts, as well as industry and academia for digital transformation projects. An AI implementation strategy and plan is to be developed, as is a plan to standardise project methodology across the trust between digital, transformation, and corporate delivery teams. Following a successful pilot of AVT, a project between digital teams, EVI, and localities is exploring opportunities for wider rollout. In corporate redesign, the board notes an implementation plan is required for processes introduced, with the development of an AI agent and testing taking place. Cisco contact centre telephony is being upgraded to support 111 services, with the platform due to go live by the end of April 2026 with an AI module to follow adding additional transcription and quality assurance features.
Wider trend: Digital plans and priorities
Sir James Mackey, chief executive at NHS England, has outlined next steps on planning and priorities for 2026/27 in an open letter to ICB and trust chief executives. Mackey starts by congratulating execs on progress toward operational targets on referral to treatment and urgent and emergency care, adding: “What we absolutely need to avoid is the risk that, while we are rightly focused on making 2026/27 a success, we miss maximising the opportunity the multi-year planning process gives us to stretch ourselves over the medium term and really bring the benefits of the 10 Year Health Plan to life.” Executives are therefore asked to begin to build out strategic commissioning narratives to focus on what strategic commissioning means for the local system and how it will be developed over the next three years; plans around neighbourhood care; whether changes to financial flows or payment are sought to help with delivery; and what more can be done at the centre to help drive pace of change locally. ICBs should provide a single document via regional teams to summarise the above points by 15 May.
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust has set out its digital delivery goals and priorities for 2026/27, focusing on using data to improve the health of communities, using tech to support people to be well at home, providing better access to care, making life easier for staff, and delivering more productivity. As well as developing digital maturity through EPR implementation, connecting data through the Federated Data Platform, and making the NHS App the primary front door for patient access, the trust plans to work on its digital foundations in a number of priority areas.
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has published its medium term plan, outlining ambitions for the next five years. The trust plans to develop its making data count dashboard, expand patient portal capability, and implement digital tools to improve patient access and system efficiency. In year one for specialist mental health, it looks to the Crisis Care Coordination tool for digital triage, advice, and scheduling; to implementing full NHS App mental health capabilities; and to test solutions for improved discharge flow and reduced delays. Years two to five will then focus on roll-out and full utilisation of digital assessment tooling, patient portal development (year two) and go-live (year three), the adoption of all NHS App capabilities, and inpatient and discharge digitalisation with an identified system go-live across inpatient services.
