encompass wins IT Project of the Year and Best Public Sector or Third Sector IT Project at the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards 2025
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November 18, 2025
The encompass programme has achieved a landmark moment in Northern Ireland’s digital health journey, taking home two major awards at the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards 2025, held on Friday 14th November.
The winning categories were:
- IT Project of the Year
- Best Public Sector or Third Sector IT Project
These awards recognise encompass which has delivered a unified Electronic Health Record (EHR) system across all five Health and Social Care Trusts, as one of Northern Ireland’s most ambitious and successful digital health transformations.
clinical processes, enabling healthcare professionals to spend less time navigating systems and more time delivering patient care.
Reflecting on the work of the encompass programme, Fergus Wills, the Senior Solutions Architect for encompass said:
“Winning the awards for Best Public Sector or Third Sector IT Project and IT Project of the Year underscores the encompass technical team’s pivotal role in delivering one of Northern Ireland’s most ambitious digital health transformations. This recognition highlights their commitment to innovation, precision, and measurable impact in unifying patient records for 1.9 million citizens and modernising clinical workflows across all five Health and Social Care Trusts.
This success represents the culmination of more than five years of dedicated effort, marked by the successful rollout of the Epic Electronic Health Record system between November 2023 and May 2025. The team managed highly complex technical undertakings, including large-scale data migration, system integration, deployment of end user and medical devices, and onboarding over 100,000 users. These achievements have streamlined
Bringing the encompass programme to fruition required extensive collaboration with multiple public sector bodies, regional organisations, and key third-party partners to ensure delivery on time and within budget—while safeguarding patient safety and operational continuity. This milestone sets a new benchmark for digital health transformation nationally, and it is only the beginning. Northern Ireland’s patients and service users are already experiencing the benefits of this implementation, and the team looks forward to building on this foundation to deliver even better care for every person, in every corner of Northern Ireland.”
This achievement marks a turning point for patient care in Northern Ireland. By creating a single digital record accessible across the region, the encompass system enables safer, faster and more coordinated care, breaking down barriers between Trusts and improving experience for both clinicians and patients.
These awards highlight the scale and complexity of the encompass programme, which involved thousands of staff, extensive training and the integration of multiple legacy systems into one modern platform. It is a testament to the collaboration and innovation driving Northern Ireland’s health service forward.
Congratulations to all involved.
Page last updated: 18 November 2025