Health Minister Robin Swann has announced a major step towards the radical digital transformation of our health service, with the award of a landmark contract.
The Minister said the major investment means the days of relying heavily on paper patient records are coming to an end.
Announcing the contract award for Encompass, Mr Swann said: “Digital transformation will have a vital role in the rebuilding of health and social care in the wake of the first Covid-19 wave.
“For example, virtual clinics will increasingly be embedded in the provision of care. That innovation has been fast tracked as a result of Coronavirus. It is here to stay. Further digital innovation will revolutionise services and Encompass is a major step in that direction.”
Encompass involves the creation of a single Digital Care Record for every citizen, bringing important benefits for both the public and staff. It forms part of a planned £300million ICT investment over 10 years that will create 200 additional jobs.
The Minister today announced the award of the Encompass contract to Epic Systems, a global leader in patient systems.
Following four years of planning and business case processes and a successfully completed competitive tender, the contract will see Epic collaborating with Encompass, HSCNI frontline staff, operational management, and patients and carers to implement a single Digital Care Record for every citizen and enabling the digital transformation of our workflows and services.
Encompass is a critical enabler of the wider transformation programme for health and social care. It will link in with work on waiting times; actions around Mental Health; reconfiguration of hospital services; the development of day case elective centres; delivery of transformed cancer services; and support community engagement and co-design.
Minister Swann said: “We are calling time on the current situation of multiple, ageing digital systems and a large reliance on the paper record. This investment will improve outcomes for our patients and service users by making it easier for our HSC professionals to deliver sustainable, high quality care, improved efficiencies and greater collaboration across all care settings.”
The Minister also confirmed that the response to Covid-19 is still currently taking precedence, but it would be a disservice to the NI population and those working so hard in the HSC to stall on this opportunity.
“It will be important that we work to understand the impact that our response to Covid-19 has had on our system, the transformations which have happened as a result of this, and how we incorporate this progress and learning into our Transformation journey moving forward.
“There will of course be challenges in planning such a major digital transformation in the face of ongoing uncertainty, but I am reassured that the encompass team and Epic will continue to be working hard in the background so that when we emerge from Covid, we are best placed to build on the experiences of frontline staff, patients and the public to deliver services that are more digitally transformed, virtualised and sustainable into the future.”
Epic Systems will bring over 40 years of experience of successful implementations at 300+ organisations like HSCNI and are considered to be the global leaders in terms of their technology and their strong support for successful implementation and ongoing development and improvement. The contract with Epic is part of an overall investment of £300m over the next decade, which includes investment in the ICT infrastructure required and the creation of over 200 additional jobs within HSCNI.