University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire pause Oracle EPR launch

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust have temporarily put the brakes on the launch of their Oracle electronic patient record (EPR) system, a trust spokeswoman confirmed in a statement Wednesday.

“Our Trust Board has taken the decision to temporarily defer the launch of our new Electronic Patient Record (EPR),” the statement said. It did not provide a reason for the delay, but the HSJ, quoting unnamed sources, reported that difficulties during testing – including with doctors’ logins not working – led to it delaying implementation.

“Our teams are continuing to work closely with supplier Oracle Health to build on the momentum achieved to date and we will be announcing a new go-live date as soon as we are in a position to do so,” the UHCW statement concluded.

UHCW is not the first NHS trust to suffer teething problems prior to the launch of a new EPR system. On October 5, Guy’s and St. Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) celebrated the go-live of its new Epic EPR nearly three years after signing the deal with the US supplier back in November 2020. In March, the launch was delayed to allow more time for the system to be implemented safely.

Oracle completed the acquisition of Cerner last year in a deal worth around £22.4 billion, signifying a big step into the health and care sector. As one of world’s leading EPR providers with already strong relationships within the NHS, Cerner’s EPR implementation was a key topic of conversation. The company is one of the leading suppliers of EPRs to the NHS, along with rival Epic.

Speaking at Digital Health Summer Schools 2023 at the University of Birmingham in July, Vin Diwakar, medical director for transformation and secondary care at NHS England’s National Medical and Transformation Directorates, said all NHS trusts are currently on track to have an EPR system in place by March 2026.