The Committee for Health and Social Care in Guernsey has shared updates on its EPR programme, highlighting outcomes from phase one and a decision to “transition towards closure” in favour of a rolling programme of improvement, requiring business justification and funding approval.
“These are difficult updates, but it is important that the Committee is transparent with the community about how these capital programmes have developed since their inception,” George Oswald, president of the Committee for Health & Social Care, said of both the EPR and Hospital Modernisation programme. “We recognised the problems with these programmes of work and foresaw the difficulties that would come with trying to push ahead regardless. Now, we have made what I consider to be the entirely appropriate decision to stop.”
Changes must be aligned with the needs of residents and delivered in a cost effective way, the president of the committee continued, highlighting that if efforts had continued on the same path, “this would not have been the case”. While some positive outcomes have been realised, these have not been delivered as originally promised, he added.
The EPR programme has spent £22 million out of its £23.711 million budget, the government outlines, completing most phase one deliverables, and delivering a “significant step forward” in the management of digital health records. The programme, which spans acute, community, child health, learning disability, and mental health services, successfully rolled out the new systems earlier in 2026 with no unplanned interruptions to patient care.
The second phase of the programme was intended to incorporate a digital system for critical care, an acute electronic prescribing system, and an update to the Mosaic safeguarding system, but these pieces of work will now be transferred to digital and technology teams to be carried out as a rolling programme of improvement. £450,000 from the programme’s contingency will go toward funding technical work, project management, and specialist support moving forward.
Funding for these remaining projects will be progressed through routine minor capital channels to help ensure they stick to budget, and to allow better prioritised investment in digital systems based on project-specific merits, the government continues.
“Going forwards, as a committee we are intending to approach this type of work in a different way,” the president of the committee shared. “We don’t want to pursue ‘big bang’ programmes with a wide array of elements. Instead, we want to look strategically at where projects can have the greatest impact, agree a plan to develop a specific solution, and then deliver it, rather than taking on huge, sweeping changes which inevitably take years – or several political terms – to deliver…The information gathered through the design, engineering and business case process has significantly improved our understanding of future healthcare requirements, estate constraints, infrastructure needs and delivery risks. That knowledge will be critical in shaping whatever solution comes next.”
Wider trend: EPR
East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust has shared the latest on its new EPR, confirming a contract has been signed with provider Terrafix to replace its current system over the next year. The contract with its current EPR supplier is due to end in 2027, it continues, which reportedly provided an opportunity to review the market to find a modern platform capable of supporting future clinical practice, interoperability, and service improvement. The trust outlines hopes for the new system around reducing duplication and improving data capture, incorporating digital clinical decision support tools, and helping with handovers in making sure all relevant information is on hand for those involved in a patient’s care.
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust is set to launch an EPR inequalities flag to help colleagues across the trust identify patients at the greatest risk of experiencing health inequalities. The flag has been introduced following its successful use in maternity, where CHFT reports it has supported more personalised conversations and care planning. Appearing within a patient’s clinical record, the flag is intended to prompt staff to “take a moment” to consider whether they might make any reasonable adjustments, or offer additional support or personalised communication to help meet a patient’s individual needs, according to CHFT.
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are to introduce a shared electronic patient record across the organisations. The partnership will see Cambridge University Hospitals’ existing Epic system extended to the Royal Papworth, whose current Lorenzo EPR is to be discontinued. Both trusts will be working together to design shared ways of working to support staff and patients moving between locations, with implementation expected to take just over a year.
