Digital Revolution: South Eastern Trust makes history by launching first digital patient record system in NI
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November 9, 2023
The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust has become the first Trust in Northern Ireland to implement the major new digital patient record system – encompass.
It was an historic moment.
Staff from across the Trust gathered at 4am in the Ulster Hospital to countdown as we waved goodbye to paper patient records and launched encompass.
Northern Ireland Health and Social Care has partnered with the global leader Epic to build the encompass system which is unique to Northern Ireland. Epic currently provides electronic records for over 300 million people within the UK and across the world.
This digital milestone is the culmination of over seven years of work which will make our health service safer, more efficient and effective.
Implementing encompass means our health and social care records will be digitised, accessed at the touch of a button and the need for paper records will be eliminated.
The Chief Executive of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Roisin Coulter said,
“I am so proud of our staff, other staff from across the health service and the entire team involved in this programme who have been working tirelessly together in order to implement this digital innovation.
“It will of course be a time of change and adjustment for our staff as they get used to the system, so we are asking the public to be patient for the next few weeks.
“There will inevitably be some disruption in our Trust but every effort will be made to keep this to a minimum. The long term benefits for our patients and service users, who are at the heart of everything we do, are enormous.”
The Department of Health’s Permanent Secretary Peter May added: “The launch of encompass signals a new era for health and social care services and is part of the Department’s transformation strategy. It is much more than updating to a new system, it means that for the first time ever all patient information will be held in one place. Patients will not need to repeat their information to staff at every appointment, creating a better experience for patients and service users.
“The way information is accessed will protect patients’ privacy. Paper records will be a thing of the past, ensuring information can be accessed wherever it is needed. Information will be more readily available to plan services and prevent health issues at the population level.
“For staff, encompass will simplify things; allowing them to get the right information at the right time and providing better quality data for improvement of our services in the future. Staff will have secure, comprehensive access on modern devices, reducing duplication of services like tests and reducing the risk of errors.
“In due course, everyone in Northern Ireland will be able to install an app on their mobile device called “MyCare” where they will be able to access their own patient records, including information about appointments and test results.”
Concluding Mr May said: “Today is the culmination of a lot of hard work from teams right across the system, so I would like to thank all those involved in this launch and also recognise the work that is ongoing to ensure the successful rollout of encompass across all our Health and Social Care Trusts.”
encompass will be rolled out to other Trusts on a phased basis over the next 18 – 24 months. The Belfast Trust will follow the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust and it will then be implemented in the Northern, Western and Southern Trusts.
Page last updated: 9 November 2023