The board of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) has updated on the expansion of its Hive EPR across local care organisations, the introduction of a digital and data academy, and the launch of a new secure data analytics platform.
The EPR expansion represents a move toward a single, unified patient record for acute and community care, the trust explains, covering more than 150 services across Manchester and Trafford LCO community health services. It hopes to address challenges with the current fragmented digital landscape, delivering improved patient safety, and making better use of available community capacity.
Phase 0 of the project was completed in June, according to MFT, covering pre-implementation mobilisation activities such as establishing programme governance, recruiting and onboarding the implementation team, and completing programme planning.
Phase one will now look to implementation, running to planned go-live in October 2027. Subject matter experts have been nominated from across the trust’s services to inform programme and system design, it continues, offering insight into real workflows and frontline realities, and playing a key role to identify risks early and communicate decisions to teams who will be using the system.
A new Digital and Data Academy has been launched across MFT, it shares, funded via the NHS Apprenticeship Levy to improve colleague access to a diverse range of digital apprenticeships and learning opportunities. “The Academy represents a significant step forward in building a future-proofed workforce, equipping colleagues with the skills and confidence to make more effective use of digital technology, data and automation in everyday practice,” the trust states. Eight courses will initially be offered in areas such as data, AI, automation, cyber security, and software engineering.
MFT also announced the launch of a new secure data analytics platform, with ambitions to support quality improvement and improve patient care. The platform, ADAMS (Ask, Discover, Act, Measure and Share), has reportedly been developed with input from digital, research, and governance teams to maintain data quality and safety. Among its features is the ability to work with synthetic data, which the trust hopes will allow teams to explore ideas and collaborate without identifying patients.
In March, MFT spoke of plans for the next phase of its AI collaboration with Microsoft, looking to increase access for colleagues to Copilot and establish an MFT “Agent Factory” to support teams in designing and implementing AI tools to automate routine operational tasks. Over the next three years, an additional 6,500 Copilot licences will be granted to MFT per year, reportedly enabling access for all corporate staff, and 1,600 frontline colleagues. This next phase will also grant teams the ability to build and deploy AI agents to support processes in areas including admin, finance, and information governance, with MFT putting in place “appropriate” human-in-the-loop protections to ensure safe and responsible use.
Wider trend: Health data
The Department of Health and Social Care has commissioned a national programme of engagement for GPs and practice managers, to “genuinely influence” national policy with their views on how patient data is used across the NHS. Views and everyday experiences of GPs and practice managers are sought across three key areas: individual patient care and how health professionals can access or add to the GP patient record; how patient data is used for routine planning at regional and national levels; and how patient data is used for research into new treatments and medications.
The NHS England Getting It Right First Time programme has shared a report on improving care and support for children and young adults living with diabetes to highlight the use of data, digital, wearable tech, digital self-management tools, and digitally enabled pathways. A review drawing on national audit and activity datasets, along with local insight, identified “excellent practice in many places”, GIRFT programme lead and NHSE national director for clinical improvement, elective recovery, and UEC Tim Briggs revealed. “But it also shows that variation is driven less by clinical complexity than by system design: diffuse accountability, inconsistent standards, workforce and infrastructure pressures, and a persistent failure to turn good data into sustained action.”
Three “interregional” data projects have been selected for a share of €3.8 million through the EU-funded UNITE programme, with an aim to utilise data for innovation across heart failure, neonatal intensive care, and medical imaging. The selection follows an open call that reportedly engaged more than 1,000 organisations and received 19 proposals from different European regions, seeking to improve accessibility of health data across borders and to deliver more personalised remote care. The first project to be confirmed for funding is CARDIO-HUB, which utilises real-world data, AI-powered risk prediction, and remote monitoring to help improve care for elderly heart failure patients.
