Frimley Health awards £108m EPR contract to Epic

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust has awarded Epic with a multi-million-pound contract to provide an electronic patient record (EPR) solution.

According to the award notice, the £108million contract is to implement a “full integrated” EPR system. Frimley Health does not currently have an EPR installed, according to data from Digital Health Intelligence

The notice also states there were two tenders received but does not name the suppliers.

In a press release, Frimley said more than 300 clinicians were involved in the procurement process and they were given the opportunity to test the different systems from companies bidding to provide the service and they overwhelmingly preferred Epic.

Frimley Health’s deputy chief executive, Janet King, said: “This is such an important development for the Trust and will help us truly transform how we treat our patients.

“At the moment we have more than 200 different systems operating in the Trust and this ‘One Frimley’ solution will mean vital patient information can be shared across our teams and give us much better intelligence about the patient demand that we need to meet.

“Our recent experience of coping with the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated how important it is for clinicians to have instant and full access to a patient’s history and treatments so we can make the best decisions about their care. This system should ensure we have that full picture instantly.”

Frimley follows a number of other NHS trusts which have awarded expensive contracts to Epic. This includes Northern Ireland signing a £275m deal with the US supplier to supply electronic patient records across the country in June 2020.

Before that, in May 2020, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) confirming it had selected Epic to implement an EPR as well.

The solution, called Hive, will eventually provide a new ‘operating system’ for the trust, replacing current IT systems, including three existing EPR and Patient Administration Systems (PAS) and a number of smaller specialty systems.

While in June 2018, Royal Devon and Exeter received the green light to proceed with its EPR implementation in June 2018.

They all join Epic’s current UK customers, including University College London Hospitals which went live with Epic’s integrated clinical system in April 2019 and Great Ormond Street NHS Foundation Trust which went live with its EPR in Spring 2019.

Cambridge University Hospitals, was one of the first in the UK and went live with Epic back in October 2014, as part of a £200m digitisation programme.

Epic vice president, Leslie Selby, added: “We’re looking forward to supporting Frimley with Epic’s integrated and interoperable EPR as they continue to provide excellent care for the residents of Berkshire and Surrey.

“With Epic and the MyChart patient portal, Frimley will be able to further provide patients access to their health information and to telemedicine for better health outcomes while operating more efficiently as an organization.”