ULTH selects Nervecentre as preferred EPR supplier

United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (ULTH) has selected Nervecentre as its preferred electronic patient record (EPR) supplier.

The trust announced that following a “rigorous tender process” its board has given the go ahead for Insight Direct (UK) to implement the Nervecentre solution, subject to contract and national approval of the full business case.

Michael Humber, chief digital information officer at ULTH, said that he was “delighted” that the preferred supplier had been identified and the trust is “closer to the transformative change that the EPR will bring”.

“Whilst the EPR is a digital tool, the benefits go far beyond the digital arena and will enable positive changes that will transform our services for patients and improve the working lives of healthcare staff across our region,” he said.

Humber added that the trust has been investing in our digital infrastructure as part of its EPR programme.

“The right core digital infrastructure is critical to the delivery of any EPR and we are ensuring that we have a right-sized, resilient, secure and capable technology platform and end-user devices in place to support our EPR from the start.

“By making better use of technology we will have the opportunity to focus on improving care for patients, increasing patient safety and improving ways of working across all healthcare providers with the aim to improve patient experience,” Humber said.

Daren Fradgley, group chief integration officer at ULTH and senior responsible officer for the new EPR, said: “NHS England is investing £1.9 billion in NHS trusts to ensure they all meet a core level of digitisation and have EPR systems in place.

“The long-term sustainability of health and social care is dependent on having the right digital foundations in place, which means a capable technical infrastructure and easy access to the full patient record at the point of need.

“The investment into creating easily accessible information for our frontline teams will help us to reduce risks, improve efficiencies, help support collaborative working across the Lincolnshire Integrated Care System and will help us to improve the level of care provided to patients and will also assist with our delivery of clinical care in the group.”

Dr Colin Farquharson, group chief medical officer, said it is “a very exciting time” for the trust.

“The EPR will provide modern tools for our workforce that will create the ability for NHS staff to see patient data in real time which means they can work more effectively, efficiently and promote patient safety due to having immediate access to a comprehensive range of patient data”.

He added that more than 100 clinical and non-clinical staff were involved in the EPR procurement evaluation.

Meanwhile, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust announced in August 2024 that they selected Nervecentre as their preferred EPR supplier, following a joint tender process.

Nervecentre was also selected by Nottingham University Hospitals in February 2024, and EPR contracts were signed with University Hospitals of Derby and Burton and Chesterfield Royal Hospital, and Northampton General Hospital.