Trust Suffers Potentially Damaging EPR Delay

Wye Valley NHS Trust have delayed their go-live of electronic patient record IMS Maxims by nearly four months following configuration and testing issues, according to the trust's March Board Papers.

The original date for the deployment at Hereford County Hospital was scheduled for 26 March, however due to a culmination of issues, the 17 July 2017 is now the new target.

According to the trust, this extra time is “to allow additional clinical functionality to be developed”, a spokesperson told Digital Health.

“This added functionality required further testing to ensure that the system is robust, fit for purpose and meets the requirements of the trust.”

Even-though the go-live date has now been pushed back to allow more time to overcome issues faced, the trust are still unsure that the new date set will be an achievable one.

"Testing remains challenging even with the new timescale", the board papers stated.

It seems however that it is not just the technical aspects of the deployment that are troubling the Hereford based NHS organisation - as training is also named as an area of concern.

"The volume and complexity of training must not be underestimated", the document added.

According to the papers, the trust are considering the option of additional resources in order to aid the struggling EPR team.

However, with NHS spending currently under microscopic surveillance, as well as the introduction of IR35 into the public sector, this may prove difficult.

The board papers stated that the current expenditure for the EPR implementation stands at £187,000, however, the trust’s risk register have previously stated that a delay to the IMS Maxims project could lead to an incurring cost of £300,000 per month.

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