Patient record programme budget grows again

Part of the new system went live in August

A project to digitise patient records at Guernsey's Health and Social Care Committee (HSC) has gone another £300,000 over budget.

The extra money was "not an additional capital cost" but related to the licensing of the new programme, said Helen O'Hara, associate director of Operational Support Services at the States.

Plans to replace the current system were approved in 2020, with a budget of £20m, which rose to £22.2m in 2024 when the launch was postponed to 2025.

The States said the next stage of the scheme was now set to go live in the first three months of 2026, after the new system for children's services launched in August.

Annual spend

The island's current system, TRAKCare, has been used since 2012.

It reached end-of-life support by 2021, according to the States of Guernsey.

HSC said at the time: "This created an urgent need for replacement to maintain continuity of care and modernize digital health infrastructure."

The extra £300,000 will be a recurring annual spend, according to HSC.

Ms O'Hara said: "The upgrade of the RiO system for child health and children's services was successfully completed in August, bringing immediate benefits with improved user experience and a higher quality of data being captured in the patient record.

"We are expecting to go live with implementing our upgraded software in the MSG and Acute, Adult Community, Adult Disability Services and Mental Health areas in Q1 2026."

The electronic patient record system or EPR was part of the partnership of purpose, agreed in 2020.

When launched the States stated the EPR would "bring systems up to date and future proof the storage and utilisation of data".

It added: "It represents a significant step forward in terms of the way digital health records can be managed and utilised.

"It is working towards creating one electronic view of each patient providing a modern experience of technology that our clinicians and service users expect."