Results from the latest Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA) revealed that although 93% of NHS providers had an electronic patient record (EPR) in 2025, only 30% had fully integrated two-way data flows.
The DMA is an annual self-assessment survey that collects data on the digital and data maturity of NHS organizations in England, aligned with the seven pillars of the NHS What Good Looks Like framework.
It was completed by 205 NHS trusts and 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) in 2025, with scores varying dramatically across the country, more than doubling between the lowest and highest performing systems.
He recommendationspublished March 27, 2026, show that providers performed better in digital infrastructure and leadership, while capabilities to empower patients and transform care delivery were less developed.
Even among the top-performing quarter of systems, scores were relatively modest, although a small number of organizations achieved higher levels of digital maturity.
NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB was among the highest performing systems, achieving top scores of five out of five across multiple digital maturity domains.
Several vendors scored at the lower end of the scale, around two out of five, indicating more limited digital maturity.
Dermot Ryan, head of digital transformation at NHS England, said: “The results of the 2024 and 2025 Digital Maturity Assessments are a guide, not a ranking, measuring progress in digital transformation.”
NHS England said the low level of EPR with integrated two-way data flows, which allow data to continually move between two or more systems, is “limiting productivity across the system”.
The survey, conducted between April 2025 and June 2025, found that almost all providers said their staff could access a shared care record, and about 90% of them could do so directly through their EPR or with a single sign-on.
It also found that 90% of providers had a central data repository, and two-thirds of them included both clinical and non-clinical data, such as operational or human resources information.
All ICBs surveyed had commissioned virtual rooms, but only 86% of providers had them installed and two-thirds of them said they could share data digitally with clinical teams to support decision making in virtual rooms.
Commenting on the findings, Lee Rickles, chief information officer at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It is encouraging to see trusts continuing to strengthen their smart digital foundations, a finding reflected in national reports identifying this as the highest performing dimension of digital maturity.
“At the same time, the assessment makes clear that empowering citizens through better digital access and participation remains one of the most important opportunities for improvement across the system.
“As we move towards the ambition of all trusts achieving a minimum level of digital maturity by 2025, these findings provide us with a valuable evidence base to guide investment, collaboration and planning.”
EPR Usability Survey
2024 results EPR usability survey for secondary carepublished on the same day, show that 60% of doctors and 70% of nurses would welcome additional EPR training.
Additionally, 44% say they did not receive further training after joining their organization, despite evidence that regular training can take 50 to 60 minutes of clinical time per week.
Ryan said: “The 2024 EPR Usability Survey, the largest ever of its kind, provides a snapshot of EPR user satisfaction.
“Together, they demonstrate that to implement the government’s 10-year health plan we must focus on maximizing the effectiveness of existing digital platforms, so staff can work more effectively and patients experience safer, more integrated care.”
In response to the survey, Thomas Webb, founder of Ethical Health Consultingsaid: “The real shift now is from deployment to optimization.
“It’s not about more technology, it’s about training, workflow, and applying known best practices at scale.”
