Progress is being made toward the development of a national electronic health record in Ireland with the publication of a tender, the Health Service Executive has shared.
The move toward a national electronic health record echoes the Irish government’s commitment to digitising healthcare records and information systems set out in the Programme for Government and Sláintecare, with a focus on data to follow the patient, support integrated care, and reduce admin burden. It will be supported by the Health Information Bill, offering a legal framework for sharing health information across the health service.
Back in February, Minister Carrol MacNeill announced the receipt of government approval to move forward with the ambition to offer a single integrated digital health record for every patient in the country, noting: “The National Electronic Health Record programme will be central to patients receiving safer, faster, and more integrated care, supporting clinicians and improving outcomes for everyone.”
In a post made to LinkedIn, the HSE has outlined further direction for the HSE One Health Record, which is set to become the primary system used by clinicians across health and social care, replacing paper records and separate IT systems. It will be deployed in four stages, HSE states, with the first stage being go-live in HSE Dublin and North East in 2029; a second region going live in 2030; two further regions going live in 2031; and the two remaining regions going live in 2032.
“The implementation of this national solution represents a vital step towards modernising healthcare delivery in Ireland,” Damien McCallion, HSE chief technology and transformation officer and deputy CEO said. “By integrating patient information into a unified digital platform, the national EHR will enable the enhancement of the quality, efficiency, and safety of healthcare services, aligning with national healthcare strategies such as Sláintecare.”
The invitation to tender is live now at eTenders.gov.ie.
Wider trend: EPR
With the help of a panel of experts from across the health sector, HTN recently took a deep dive into EPRs, looking at approaches to implementation, lessons learned, challenges, and future directions. Panellists included Ian Mackenzie, CIO at Surrey and Borders Partnership; Ciara Moore, EPR operations director at Bath, Salisbury and Great Western Group; Keltie Jamieson, CIO at Bermuda Hospitals Board; and Michael Hardman, practice lead for software development at Aire Logic.
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has announced a 10-year agreement for the Nervecentre electronic patient record system across the trust’s hospitals. The £53 million agreement will see Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital and Royal Liverpool University Hospital utilise the single, integrated digital patient record, joining 15 trusts now committed to Nervecentre. The system is planned to replace “a complex landscape of existing digital systems”, the trust said.
NHS England has shared a series of updates towards digital-by-default, drawing on findings from the digital maturity assessment and the EPR usability survey, to outline next steps as the focus shifts from deployment to optimisation. Whilst 93 percent of trusts have an EPR in place, only 30 percent report having fully integrated, bi-directional data flows, which NHSE identifies as an opportunity to strengthen system-wide connectivity and information sharing. 90 percent of providers now have a central data repository, according to NHSE, and “almost all” providers can now access shared care records, although these are yet to be embedded into everyday workflows and often require staff to access multiple systems. Similarly, 86 percent of providers now deliver hospital at home, but data sharing across organisational boundaries remains inconsistent.
