Secondary care trusts in major cities including Birmingham, Leeds and Southampton have developed their own digital health data systems, but peers in other areas are seemingly content with commercial tools
A review of digital patient records systems developed by NHS bodies in-house revealed that there is currently “a lack of appetite” for a widespread rollout in place of commercially developed tools.
In recent years several NHS trusts – including Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Sandwell and West Birmingham, and University Hospital Southampton – have developed and implemented their own electronic health record (EHR) systems. Outside of these examples of bespoke tools, the EHR market is dominated by commercial technology – either single proprietary platforms or combined systems.
In recent parliamentary question from crossbench peer Lord Freyberg, the Department of Health and Social Care was asked “what evaluations have been conducted on NHS-developed electronic health record systems in Leeds, Birmingham and Southampton; what benefits and risks have been identified in comparison to commercial systems developed by EPIC, Cerner and Infosys; and whether they plan to replace the NHS-developed systems with these commercial solutions”.
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In response, DHSC minister for patient safety Baroness Merron revealed that “an evaluation of National Health Service-developed electronic health record solutions” had taken place about two years ago. While this assessment did not find any grounds for replacing in-house tools with commercial alternatives, it also identified limited interest in deployments from other NHS entities.
“The review found that while NHS-developed EHR systems have some benefits, the lack of appetite for their adoption in neighbouring organisations was a limiting factor in their broader use, at a time when sharing EHRs across organisations is being encouraged,” the minister added. “The review concluded that there was no current basis to replace NHS-developed solutions, except where, through local decision making, it was deemed appropriate to do so.”
