‘Likely’ supplier for ‘first of its kind’ EPR revealed

An integrated care board has named Oracle Health as the “likely” supplier of an electronic patient record that will be the first to be used across acute, mental and health services.

Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board is planning to procure a single electronic patient record for both its sole acute, Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust and mental health and community service provider Essex Partnership University Trust. 

Details of the move were revealed in the integrated care system’s “joint forward plan” for 2024-2029 which was presented to the ICB’s July board.

Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust – which was formed by a merger of three trusts – currently uses seven different EPRs, while Essex Partnership University Trust has three. The new unified EPR is expected to go live in 2026-2027.

NHS England has encouraged ICSs to “converge” their EPR system for over two years. A number of acute trusts operating within the same system have already launched plans to share the same EPR. This includes Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire and Norfolk and Waveney.

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Source: HSJ, 12 July 2024

Related reading on the hub:

• EPR systems and concerns about patient safety
• NHS England warns electronic patient record could pose ‘serious risks to patient safety’: what can we learn?
• The foundations for a safe digital service delivery in health—A blog by Rob Ludman