South Manchester NHS signs up to take Allscripts EPR

University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust has decided to implement the Sunrise electronic patient record (EPR) system from US supplier Allscripts.

The trust went out to tender for an EPR system in the spring of 2014 together with two other Manchester trusts and is the only one of the three to have chosen Allscripts as its supplier.

South Manchester is aiming to become a top 10 NHS provider in England. Chief executive Attila Vegh said that buying and implementing an EPR system is “an important step”.

“The EPR system will enable us to transform the way we work, and as a project it will empower clinical staff to lead the new design of the system and service across the whole pathway of care for patients,” he said.

South Manchester has previously been using a home-grown system built around its CSC iPM patient administration system (PAS), which it implemented in 2006.

Allscripts, whose EPR system is widely used in the US, first gained entry into the UK EPR market in March 2012 when Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust announced plans to take the system. It was quickly followed by Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust later the same year.

Allscripts then set up its UK head office in Manchester and has become well-known in the region. In 2014, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust also signed up to take the system.

Originally, its Sunrise clinical manager suite did not offer a PAS, but in 2014 Allscripts bought PAS supplier Oasis and now offers a fully integrated system.