James Hawkins, CDIO at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has reported that the second tranche of the trust’s Nervecentre EPR has been successfully delivered.
Following a deferred go-live due to delays with NHSE approval, the trust launched first tranche functionality back in May, covering observations, clinical documentation for inpatients, urgent and emergency care, ePMA, bed management, and read-only diagnostic results. At that time, the trust shared that work was ongoing with Nervecentre to agree on revised dates for go-live of tranches two and three.
This latest tranche has reportedly introduced electronic pathology and radiology requesting. James Hawkins reports: “Tranche 2 has helped to build the confidence our organisation has developed in its ability to deliver change. Implementing an EPR across a large NHS Trust is challenging. Yet once again I saw clinicians, pathology, radiology, operational teams, digital colleagues and our partners come together with a shared determination to improve care for patients.”
The new functionality was introduced across multiple sites with zero downtime or disruption, the CDIO shares, adding: “These milestones are never achieved by technology alone. They are achieved by people. People willing to embrace change, support one another, solve problems together and stay focused on what matters most. Every tranche strengthens the foundations for what comes next. We still have our biggest challenge ahead, but we now have something incredibly valuable: experience, trust, momentum and a growing belief that together we can achieve something truly transformational, and build a platform ready for AI enabled pathways of care.”
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.
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.”
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.
