Digital Health’s monthly roundup of contracts and go lives

This latest roundup of contracts and go lives includes Northampton General Hospital signing a 10-year Nervecentre electronic patient record (EPR) contract and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust extending its EPR contract with TPP.

Mental health provider Priory signs five-year EPMA contract

In July 2024, Priory signed a five-year contract with digital medical management solutions firm Ashtons which includes its electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) system.

The contract renewal encompasses medicines supply, audit and clinical advice from pharmacists, training and e-learning for staff, and e-Works EPMA.

e-Works is a cloud-based system which includes decision support for prescribers and a medicines administration scheduler.

Under the new contract, Priory will become the first healthcare provider to implement the Ashtons ‘2.0 programme’, which will enable pharmacists to offer more regular advice remotely, using the information captured by e-Works to reduce the need to visit hospitals to review paper charts.

Northampton General Hospital signs Nervecentre EPR contract

Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust (NGH) announced that it has signed a 10-year contract with Nervecentre to implement its EPR system.

The cloud-based EPR is aimed to help the trust digitalise healthcare services and enhance care for patients and staff by giving clinicians access to real-time medical records to support clinical decision making.

It is also intended to enable teams to access information on mobile technology and reduce the use of paper.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh FT deploys patient flow solution

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust became the first organisation in the UK to deploy Altera Digital Health’s patient flow solution.

The system went live at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in March 2024, with the aim of realising operational efficiencies, improving patient safety and streamlining discharge.

Ward staff along with the bed management, portering, domestic, and infection prevention and control teams, are using the system either directly or via integration with the existing Altera Sunrise EPR system.

Alder Hey goes live with Meditech Expanse EPR

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has become the second trust to go live with the Meditech Expanse EPR system, following Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust which went live in July 2023.

The web-based EPR offers mobile and app-based workflows, real-time updates, access to historical patient data, analytics and reporting tools and a patient engagement portal, among other features.

Kate Warriner, chief digital and information officer at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The EPR is a foundational piece of our technology puzzle. It provides built-in tools to improve quality outcomes, support patient engagement, and enhance care coordination.

“Additionally, the interoperable platform will support new technologies as we continue our longstanding commitment to innovation”.

TPP awarded Sussex Community NHS EPR contract extension

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust has awarded a 10-year contract extension for an EPR system from TPP, worth almost £6.3 million.

The procurement process for the EPR contract extension concluded in October 2023. TPP will be supplying the EPR for Sussex Community for a further 10 years until July 2034.

The awarding of the EPR contract extension to TPP comes after it became public knowledge in March 2024 that its founder and CEO Frank Hester had reportedly made racist remarks inciting violence against the UK’s longest-serving black MP Diane Abbott.