Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (QVH), a specialist centre providing life-changing reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation for patients across the South East of England, has signed a five-year contract with Altera Digital Health to deliver an electronic patient record (EPR) system.
To meet NHS England’s target for trusts to have an electronic patient record by March 2026, QVH has purchased Altera Sunrise EPR, which includes Core Clinicals, Order Comms, eObservations, Secure Health Messaging, Mobile, Patient Flow, Clinical Performance Manager, Theatres, e-Prescribing, and PAS, all supported by Altera Managed Services.
A fully integrated EPR is central to the Trust’s digital strategy and will support staff to do more with connected information and enhance patient care. Considerable efficiency savings are expected to be released in areas where the system will replace paper processes and prevent the need to log into separate systems to compile patient information according to QVH.
The valuable time saved will enable staff to focus on providing the best possible care for patients. QVH’s world-leading clinical teams provide specialist surgery and non-surgical treatment for people across the south east and beyond. It offers regional and national services in conditions of the hands and eyes (corneoplastics), head and neck cancer and skin cancer, reconstructive breast surgery, maxillofacial surgery and prosthetics. QVH also runs a minor injuries unit, therapies services and a sleep disorder centre.
The trust is the second specialist trust to select Altera’s EPR, following Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which was recently awarded HIMSS Stage 7 accreditation.
“Finalising the contract with Altera is an important milestone for QVH. Developing an EPR is an exciting project for us and a significant part of our digital and overall organisational strategy. The EPR system will support us to seamlessly collaborate and deliver timely, informed care, significantly reducing the time taken to access patient information. Colleagues were impressed with the benefits of Altera’s solution and are eager to progress the project and plan to go live," said Kirstin Timmins, Chief Operating Officer, at QVH.
Colleagues working in QVH’s community services will benefit from remote access to the integrated record, with the ability to contribute to a patient’s record during home visits and appointments at regional clinics. These episodes of care will be updated in real-time and available for staff to access in the main hospital site. The flexibility and integration capabilities of the Altera EPR solution will be utilised heavily at QVH, with data from other NHS trusts available for clinicians to view as part of the new electronic patient record.
Rachael Fox, Executive Vice President, EMEA at Altera Digital Health, said, “We are delighted to be partnering with QVH to deliver its EPR. The team’s enthusiasm for change has been amazing and staff is already seeing how transformative the impact will be. We can’t wait to get started on delivery and quickly advance the trust’s digital maturity.”
