Queen Victoria Hospital’s first EPR goes live

Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (QVH) has gone live with its first electronic patient record (EPR) system.

The specialist hospital in West Sussex, which provides reconstructive surgery, burns care, and rehabilitation services, worked with Altera Digital Health to launch the Sunrise platform, nicknamed ‘Archie’ on 4 November, replacing many of their patient and clinical documents in paper form.

NHS England supported the trust with funding through its £1.9bn frontline digitisation project to help all trusts across England to have an EPR system in place by 2026.

Kirsten Timmins, chief operating officer at QVH, said: “I witnessed one of the smoothest transitions from analogue to digital, and we couldn’t have done it without our staff embracing this journey.

“It has been a privilege to be part of this work bringing together QVH staff, digital and technical contractors, Altera Digital Health, NHSE teams, and support from neighbouring trusts.

“The success of the rollout truly reflects our values as we have succeeded together. Archie EPR will transform the way we work together and across the NHS.”

The EPR is central to QVH’s long-term strategy to become a fully digitally-enabled NHS provider by allowing clinical teams across Sussex, Surrey, and Kent to receive information from a single, unified source of data.

The transition was supported by 120 members of staff who became ‘digital champions’ and floorwalkers from Altera, NHS England, and other local NHS Trusts.

Mark Hutchinson, executive vice president at Altera Digital Health (UK & EMEA), said: “Huge congratulations to QVH on the successful go live of its first EPR and for significantly advancing the trust’s digital maturity.

“The new EPR is providing a single source of patient data, so clinical teams have comprehensive, real-time information at their fingertips to improve decision-making and patient safety.

“This is a fantastic achievement that was made possible by the team’s unwavering commitment throughout to ensure it remained patient-focused, clinically-led and digitally-enabled.”

In the first week, 4,064 clinical documents were created, 2,729 prescriptions were prescribed, and 11,305 other clinical systems were accessed via Archie EPR.

The system will allow nursing and clinical teams to receive electronic notifications to undertake reviews and guides for decision support to enable proactive and responsive care. The trust aims to continue optimising the system, giving staff more time to focus on delivering care.

Romana Balle, chief nursing information officer at QVH, said: “Archie EPR marks the beginning of QVH’s digital journey. It represents a foundational step in modernising our clinical systems and strengthening the digital capability of our organisation.

“The implementation was very successful and we had positive feedback on clearer access to patient information and more efficient ways of working for teams across the Trust and with the wider NHS.”

QVH awarded a £10 million contract for its EPR system to Insight Direct in April 2024, subcontracting services to Altera.

The contract with Altera will run for an initial period of five years, with the potential for it to be extended for a further two years, up to a maximum contract length of  seven years.