Delayed south TrakCare project sees Glocs stop go-live again

Two of the three southern trusts involved in a joint TrakCare deployment are falling behind, with no new go-live dates agreed after multiple delays.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had given its latest go-live date with the InterSystems electronic patient record as 9 September, but has since told Digital Health News that this has been pushed back.

A spokeswoman said that in the lead-up to go-live it “became clear that more work needed to be done for us to safely and effectively launch TrakCare in our hospitals”.

This work specifically related to outpatient clinics and developing new data reporting processes.

“This decision was not taken lightly and reflects our commitment to getting this right first time and making sure that our patient services remain safe and effective.”

A new go-live data had not been set but would be decided and communicated to staff “shortly”, she said.

The trust had been gearing up for a big go-live, with its staff newsletter for July/August dedicated to keeping the upcoming deployment “right on track”.

“TrakCare is a big change to our usual working practices and it will take some time for everyone to get used to this new way of working. However, these changes will make a real, positive difference to all staff, and to the patient care we can deliver,” the newsletter said.

Gloucestershire has committed to an eight-year £40 million contract with InterSystems, partly supported by central funding provided to 23 southern trusts that got little of nothing out of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

Like other southern trusts seeking access to this £80m funding pot, Gloucestershire formed a consortium, in its case with two other trusts known as the SmartCare group, to tender for systems, in its case an EPR.

However, more than two years after the group picked TrakCare, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the only one of the three to deploy the system.

The trust went live with phase one TrakCare on 11 June, covering the emergency department, maternity and across all wards and outpatient clinics.

At the time the trust called the deployment a “great success” despite some technical issues. Late last month the trust released a statement in which it claimed to be the “most digitally advanced NHS trusts in the UK” after the deployment.

The trust is already moving ahead with phase two, which included e-prescribing and richer clinical functions, after which it hoped to “move closer to reaching HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7”.

The third trust of the group, Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, had planned to deploy TrakCare in July but have since delayed, with no new go-live date set.

In a statement, the trust said: “We will confirm a go-live date to staff when our TrakCare system is ready and has been tested. We continue to work closely with our colleagues at other trusts.”

While InterSystems dominates the EPR market in Scotland it has not made the same inroads further south.

Yeovil was just the second trust in England to deploy TrakCare, after North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust went live in October 2015.

North Tees made further upgrades in late July, but a second phase of the roll-out was delayed earlier this year because of data recording and reporting issues.

The trust has said since said phase two will take place early in the next financial year.