The big go-lives of 2016

With the National Programme for IT finally coming to close, and new funding scarce, there were fewer system deployments in the NHS in 2016. But in those trusts that did go-live, new systems have mostly avoided the chaos that accompanied many deployments of yesteryear.

1. West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Cerner big-bang deployments haven’t always gone smoothly. Add a new e-prescribing system from day one, and there were a few nerves at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust running into the bank holiday weekend in early May.

However, as the trust’s chief clinical information officer Dermot O'Riordan told Digital Health News afterwards, it all worked on the day and the trust has since pushed on with expanding and linking the EPR to more systems. The trust was even announced as one of the 12 global digital exemplars in September, so something must be going right. https://www.digitalhealth.net/clinical_software/47730/and-breathe:-west-suffolk-the-other-side-of-its-cerner-go-live

2. The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust
One of the country’s biggest cancer centres went live with the Meditech EPR on 23 May, with the deployment a success despite some “teething problems”. The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust also became the first NHS first trust to implement Meditech’s oncology module.

The go-live is only the first stage in the trust’s Transforming Cancer Care programme, which includes going live with patient portal in 2017 and integration with local GP systems.

3. Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
InterSytem’s TrakCare EPR has Scotland covered, and a big global footprint, but it has been a late comer to the NHS in England. In June, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust became just the second trust in the country to go-live with the system (the first being North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust in October 2015)

Early signs were promising, with the trust calling the deployment a “success”, and planning to push ahead with phase 2 in early 2017.  In October, the trust noted “delayed operational performance” in the emergency department and extra pressure on the trust’s contact centre caused by the deployment but said overall switch was still “going well”. Yeovil was the first of three southern trusts that bought the EPR together, called the SmartCare, to go-live. Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust also deploying the EPR in the first weekend of December but the final trust of the trio, Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, is yet to decide on a go-live date.

4. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
The North-West trust went live with Allscripts Sunrise on June 29, joining a small but growing number of trusts using the EPR system. Embracing its new digital future, the trust was the first to create its own hashtag, #HISGoLive, for its EPR deployment. Despite about 1000 problems being reported in the first few days after go-live, the new systems were quickly up and running, with new functions planned including monitoring patient flow, observations, full A&E and theatres.

5. Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
The Lorenzo EPR has had a rocky history in the NHS, but supplier CSC have convinced plenty of trusts that the system has come a long way since its National Programme for IT days.

As well as a flurry of trusts taking central government funding to pick Lorenzo this year, Salisbury NHS Foundation became one of the few southern trusts to deploy the system, going live on 30 October.  In July, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust also went live with a Lorenzo patient administration system, with plans to eventually move to a full EPR.

Read our full 2016 year in review here.