Somerset NHS Foundation Trust are embarking on a transformation programme to develop a new Electronic Health Record for Somerset. This is an exciting programme and will be ground-breaking in its aspirations to create one digital patient record for everyone across the county.

The programme will deliver an electronic health record (EHR) system combining our existing three patient administration systems in Yeovil hospital, Musgrove Park hospital and community/mental health services as well as reducing hundreds of our specialist systems.

The Somerset togethEHR programme will play an important role in enabling all teams, both clinical and non-clinical, to deliver the best possible care across the county.

As well as reflecting the geographical area the Somerset togethEHR programme reflects the recent merger of Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust bringing acute, community, learning disabilities and mental health services in Somerset together under one organisation.

Many trusts across the country have commenced similar programmes, although in Somerset we are striving for better and will be the first programme to include acute, mental health and learning disabilities and community services in one health record.

We hope to start the procurement process during the summer months with implementation of the chosen system in late 2025 after an extensive development phase involving colleagues from across the trust, patients, carers and support networks.

In the future the creation of one digital patient record will reduce unnecessary duplication, streamline the transfer of patients between services and release time to care for colleagues, positively impacting on the experience of our patients. It will mean patients won’t have to repeat their medical history when using different services across the county and will have access to a patient portal to manage appointments, receive results and influence their own health outcomes.

We are currently recruiting to the programme team, who together with our wider digital team are supporting our clinical colleagues in this programme of change for all.

Register your interest in joining the Somerset togethEHR programme team.