Oracle Health EPR to go live across two Essex trusts
An electronic patient record (EPR) system, supplied by Oracle Health, will be implemented across Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSEFT) and Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT) from 2026. In a board report, published in August 2025, Matthew Hopkins, chief executive at MSEFT, said: “Our biggest digital change will come with the implementation of Nova, our new unified electronic patient record system. “The single system – replacing 10 separate ones currently in use by us and colleagues at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust – will transform how we work together as a single health system to deliver seamless care to people living in mid and south Essex.” A spokesperson for the trusts said that the EPR is expected to go live in phases from winter 2026 until spring 2027 to improve how clinicians access patients’ health and care information in real-time through a unified single system that aligns physical and mental health care provision. They added that it is hoped to enhance patients’ experiences by not having to re-tell their health or care history whenever they see a health professional and will support the ambition in the NHS 10 year health plan, published on 3 July 2025, for digital enhancements to support better and connected care. Zephan Trent, executive lead for strategy and transformation at EPUT and MSEFT, told Digital Health News: “The introduction of a new, single patient record system across our hospitals, mental health and community services will transform the care we provide to our patients, helping our healthcare professionals with access to up to date patient information at all times, supporting them to deliver the best possible care to the wider community.” Meanwhile, in June 2025, MSEFT signed a 15-year contract with SYNLAB for the delivery of a unified ‘hub and spoke’ pathology service, which will include blood, tissue and other sample testing, as well as phlebotomy clinics for mid and south Essex. The contract, which begins in October 2026, will bring together the pathology services that support GP practices and clinicians across the trust’s Basildon, Broomfield and Southend hospitals, with a patient population of 1.2 million. Digital Health News contacted Oracle Health for comment.