IHRD-27 Response Accepted

Electronic Patient Information Systems

Recommendation

Electronic patient information systems should be developed to enable records of observation and intervention to become immediately accessible to all involved in care.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
Government response: Accepted. Last substantive update was January 2024. No recent public evidence of further progress.
Sources
Government response (2018-03-01): Accepted Source: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/ihrd-implementation-programme Text: Electronic care record and digital health programmes progressing across Northern Ireland. Progress update (2024-01-31): In Progress Implementation status based on Department of Health NI Implementation Programme updates. Source: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/ihrd-implementation-programme
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by baseline-data-v1 on 26 May 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.health-ni.gov.uk
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The evidence above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.
Jurisdiction
Northern Ireland
Response
Accepted
Accepted Department of Health NI
01 Mar 2018

Electronic care record and digital health programmes progressing across Northern Ireland.

Read Full Response
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Good Progress
06 Feb 2026
Department of Health NI / HSC Other

Encompass electronic care record system rolled out across all 5 NI HSC Trusts by May 2025. All NI citizens now have a digital health and social care record.

View detailed findings

This is the strongest area of IHRD implementation. The Encompass system provides a single electronic patient record across NI: South Eastern Trust went live November 2023, Belfast Trust June 2024, Northern Trust November 2024, Southern and Western Trusts May 2025. The My Care patient portal allows patients to view and update their health information. While this was a broader NI digital health initiative rather than solely an IHRD response, it substantially achieves the intent of recommendation 27.

IHRD Implementation Programme / Encompass Program… View Source
Source
Inquiry Hyponatraemia Inquiry
Report Report of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths 31 Jan 2018
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Department of Health NI Primary
Themes & Tags
Inconsistent Healthcare Data Infrastructure Fragmented NHS record access and information sharing Digital Health Patient Records Technology
Recommendation age 8.3 yrs
Last formal update 851 days ago