University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has gone live with its electronic patient record, joining Torbay and South Devon and Royal Devon, to form a shared digital record across Devon.
The go-live required a “superhuman effort”, according to chief exec Neil Macdonald, with more than 700 superusers being trained to help support their colleagues with the transition.
In a LinkedIn post, senior information officer for nursing, midwifery, and AHPs – EPR Katy Griffiths shared details of a leadership go-live preparation event, covering training, BCA, and command centres, supported by colleagues from Torbay and South Devon.
The trust also noted an update on early functionality and an issue causing duplicate pathology results to be sent from its laboratories, creating “significant additional work” for GP practices. The trust issued a statement on an identified issue following the go live, indicating that the cause was a “message processing problem between systems” that is being worked on by tech teams and suppliers.
“The issues we are currently seeing were unexpected, and we sincerely apologise for the impact this has had on GP practices and for any concern or inconvenience caused to patients,” UHP states.
Wider trend: EPR
Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust has shared the latest on its EPR progress following a launch event in June, covering recruitment, finances, and a roadmap to go-live. An initial tranche incorporating ED, inpatient, and order comms, is due to go live in July 2027. A second tranche including PAS and outpatients is then expected to follow later in the same year. The launch session was “well attended with good representation” from across the organisation, including nursing, AHPs, midwifery, medics, operational, and corporate, the trust highlights. Engagement was reportedly high, and focused module sessions took place throughout the day. The implementation comprises more than 120 workshop sessions looking at how implementation could improve quality, safety, and efficiency, according to the trust. These are now almost complete, and engagement has been good, with some cohorts “leading the way” and others requiring more support and encouragement.
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS FT has updated on EPR readiness ahead of a planned EPR go-live date of October 2027, highlighting that a “significant proportion of readiness activity remains either not started or at an early stage”, with key dependencies still unresolved. Progress has been observed around core governance structures, leadership frameworks, enabling infrastructure, training, device audits, and initial transformation arrangements, according to the board. Work is ongoing to develop role-based training, define system profiles, and establish cross-organisational groups to support policies, procedures, and super users.
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has delayed the planned June go-live 
of its eCare EPR, describing the decision as a “necessary and appropriate assurance action”. The decision was taken following a 60-day review of clinical, operational, and technical readiness, the board shares, highlighting that despite substantial progress, it had not been sufficiently assured that a June go-live would consistently support safe patient care and service continuity across all areas. Additional time will now be taken to complete further clinical and operational assurance, the trust states, as well as to strengthen end-to-end pathways, improve safety controls, increase staff readiness and confidence, and “reduce systemwide risk at go-live and during early stabilisation”.
