Following the announcement that Warrington and Halton Hospitals (WHH) and Bridgewater Community Healthcare (BCH) trusts will be joining to become one single organisation integrating community and hospital services, key milestones have been shared to underpin the organisations’ approach to digital integration.
“Successful digital integration between an acute and community NHS Trust is about creating clinically useful, interoperable pathways, underpinned by national standards, shared governance, and cultural alignment,” the trusts state. “Integrating the digital systems of WHH and BCH will be a complex process, and its success will depend on both the technical integration (systems, data flows, interoperability) and the organisational integration (governance, culture, clinical workflows).”
Existing reciprocal access arrangements will support staff in accessing each trust’s EPR systems, with clinical teams to “continue to share access where necessary”, the trusts report, with digital teams to explore technical solutions to enable click-through capabilities for alternative system views. Regional access to the CareCentric C&M shared care record will also be prioritised to promote information sharing and support clinical collaboration.
A digital transition plan is in the works to align core systems and digital services, whilst “robust” transition plans are to be drawn-up for critical systems such as EPRs and clinical applications. A phased approach is focusing on areas where integration is “most urgent and impactful”, and the day one focus will be ensuring continuity of critical clinical and operational systems, as well as maintaining staff access to essential digital tools.
In the longer term, the aim will be to transition to a common system by 2030, according to the trusts, with plans elsewhere to deploy tools such as Optima One (Federated Data Platform) for multi-agency bed management and discharge planning, expand the use of patient portals, and standardise data structures.
Joint governance structures, risk management, and cyber assurance processes have been established, with an integrated digital service desk in place and a change advisory board facilitating integration of IT service management. A new digital activity and performance framework is in development to offer a consolidated view of systems, data, cyber defences, and digital metrics.
An emerging digital strategy will focus on personalised care, faster diagnosis through AI-enabled imaging, patient empowerment with tools like the NHS App, delivering care closer to home, cloud-based EPR and shared care records, workforce enablement, and digital inclusion.
The trusts also note: “Achieving the digital transformation ambitions will require structured investment across multiple domains. Initial costs include capital funding for new platforms (such as EPR and AVT solutions), infrastructure upgrades, and integration efforts, while ongoing costs cover staff training, process change and adoption, system maintenance, compliance, and governance.”
Wider trend: Trust digital plans
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has highlighted progress around digital systems, AI, ambient voice and virtual care, and an upcoming upgrade to the AlderC@re EPR system to deliver additional functionality and keep pace with developments in AI and patient tools. Work is ongoing through the paediatric open innovation zone to develop its digital offer for families, including a digital portal offering access to health services. Ambient voice is now in place and integrated with Meditech, with more than 1,200 clinicians onboarded.
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has published its trust strategy and clinical strategy for 2025 – 2030, with a focus on a multi-year digital transformation programme set to improve service integration, build capability, realise benefits, ensure effective use of data, and standardise services. A vision is for all services to be supported through care navigation and shared digital records, and opportunities such as the optimisation of clinical workflows and improvements in data-driven decision-making will be explored and maximised. The goal is to fully deploy digital investments across bed management, patient portal, and EPMA, engaging and supporting clinical and operational teams.
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has published its three-year trust strategy, supported by a series of enabling strategies outlining plans and priorities for care, people, working together, and research and innovation. The trust commits to exploring the potential uses of digital solutions and delivering digitally empowered care, vowing to use technology to make care more accessible and personalised, and to support colleagues to work “efficiently and effectively”. Plans around digitally empowered care involve promoting digital access to services and support, introducing new digital tools to make care more efficient, embracing new ways of working enabled by digital, and making it easier to collect, use, and share data to facilitate the planning of services and evidence-based decision making.
