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An ambitious plan to roll out a single, integrated health and social care record across Northern Ireland has achieved a significant, first milestone this month. The South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust, one of five in the country, successfully went live with the new EPIC Electronic Patient Record solution, encompass, on 9 November.

Egress Group’s healthcare division undertook the complex and challenging task of migrating a myriad of legacy system data into the new solution.

An intricate web of interconnected data sources in a healthcare setting, forming the foundation for powerful AI applications-4

More than 1.1m records were extracted, transformed, and loaded …with a remarkable 99.85% success rate achieved.

More than 1.1m records were extracted, transformed, and loaded with a remarkable 99.85% success rate achieved. This is testament to the tremendous teamwork and dedication from everyone involved, including the Trust’s own teams.

Thanks to the success of the migration, and such small error rates, the Trust’s team were able to focus on validating records in EPIC rather than manual input. This not only saved time and significantly reduced pressure for staff just prior to the EPR go-live, but, also importantly, provided complete confidence in data quality moving forward.

The South Eastern Trust serves a population of approximately 345,000, so legacy data was extensive, held across several systems. Data migrated ranged from specialist audiology pathways to social care and mental health referrals, cancer, cardiology and respiratory pathways, to the complete, legacy PAS system data, as well as over 57 million lab results.

Egress Group’s healthcare division has been working with encompass since Spring of 2022, contracted to manage the entire programme’s end-to-end data migration requirements. As the roll out progresses Egress will be working with each Trust in turn. Belfast Trust is next, due to go-live in June 24.

Once complete the project will transform care across the country by creating a single, integrated health and social care record for citizens. This will provide a holistic view of a patient, resulting in more informed clinical decision making and, therefore, better outcomes for individuals.

Data migrated ranged from specialist audiology pathways to social care and mental health referrals, cancer, cardiology and respiratory pathways … to the complete, legacy PAS system data, as well as over 57 million lab results.

In addition, at a later stage of the roll-out, everyone across Northern Ireland will have the opportunity to access their own patient record, using the ‘MyCare’ App.

Joe Rooke, Chief Executive Officer at Egress Group, commented:

“What an achievement for encompass. This is such an important milestone in bringing truly connected health and social care to the citizens of Northern Ireland.

We are, of course, so pleased to have been able to safely and robustly deliver the data migration requirements of the first phase, for the South Eastern Trust. Data of the highest quality is the fundamental building block upon which to drive digital transformation and ensure the programme’s complete vision can be realised.

It has been a pleasure working with the encompass teams, as well as other supplier partners. Everyone involved was committed to achieving the very best results for the Trust and the people they care for. We look forward to our continued partnership and ensuring the same success is delivered across the remaining four trusts.”

Find out more about encompass here.

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