Key Takeaways
- Queen Victoria Hospital’s new electronic patient record (EPR) system, ‘Archie,’ will launch in November 2025.
- The £10 million contract was awarded to Insight Direct, with implementation starting in 2024.
- The EPR aims to enhance patient care by consolidating information across various services into a single platform.
Introduction of the New EPR System
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is set to unveil its first electronic patient record (EPR) system, named ‘Archie,’ in November 2025. The hospital awarded a £10 million contract to Insight Direct in April 2024, with Altera providing subcontracted services. Implementation phases commenced in 2024, and core functionalities—covering inpatients, outpatients, electronic prescribing, theatres, minor injuries, and reporting modules—are expected to go live in just 50 days from September 25, 2025.
Transformative Impact on Patient Care
Tamara Everington, the chief medical officer at Queen Victoria Hospital, emphasized that the Archie EPR program is more than just a technological shift; it signifies a cultural transformation within the hospital. “Patient care will remain at the heart of our mission,” she stated. The new system aims to allow staff to access digitized records efficiently, thereby improving care delivery.
Archie is part of the trust’s broader strategy to transition into a fully digitally enabled NHS provider. Developed with Altera’s Sunrise EPR platform, it aims to integrate information stored in disparate locations into a cohesive system, enabling staff to access critical data when needed.
Support from NHS England
The rollout of Archie EPR is supported by NHS England, which provided funding as part of its £1.9 billion frontline digitization initiative. This initiative aims to equip all NHS trusts in England with EPR systems by 2026. The new EPR will facilitate service transformation and integration, allowing clinical teams across Sussex, Surrey, and Kent to utilize a unified data source.
Additionally, clinicians will benefit from electronic notifications for reviews and decision support, which is designed to ensure that care is both proactive and responsive.
Contract Duration and Future Plans
The agreement with Altera spans an initial five-year term, concluding in March 2029, with an option to extend for an additional two years, bringing the total potential duration to seven years.
In parallel, NHS England has enlisted consultancy KPMG for a £13.3 million ‘tiger teams’ contract intended to assist trusts that may struggle to meet the March 2026 EPR deadline. This initiative targets secondary trusts, such as Blackpool Teaching Hospitals and University Hospitals Sussex, that expect to fall behind the required timeline.
In a statement from July 2023, Vin Diwakar, the national director of transformation at NHS England, affirmed that all NHS trusts are on track to implement EPR systems by March 2026, underscoring the commitment to modernize patient care across the healthcare framework.
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