Beverley Bryant, Chief Digital Officer, University Hospitals Dorset, Dorset County Hospitals and Dorset Health University NHS Foundation Trusts (Credit: Beverley Bryant)
Four NHS trusts in Dorset and Somerset have signed a £222 million contract with Epic to implement a unified electronic patient record (EPR) system across the region.
The joint EPR, called Healthset, is scheduled to go live at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust and Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust in April 2028.
It will replace current IT systems including EPRs, patient management systems and various specialist systems to link healthcare records across acute, community services and mental health organisations.
Beverley Bryant, Dorset Providers digital director and senior responsible officer (SRO), said: “We are really excited about the future and the benefits it will bring. Epic will bring in patients in Dorset and Somerset, some of whom receive care in both counties.
“Epic’s proposed solution has been chosen as the best to meet the complex and specialized needs of the four trusts.”
Talking about the Disconnected digital health podcast in January, Bryant spoke Dorset’s digital strategywhich includes the Healthset EPR program.
“We are really keen to achieve our integration ambitions across Dorset. We need to bring our infrastructure together.
“We’re looking at our corporate service systems and historically providers have largely operated within their own organization and our strategy is really looking to change all of that over the next five years, so it’s huge and extremely exciting,” Bryant said.
He added that the new EPR is expected to integrate AI.
“Ambient voice technology is something our clinicians are really excited about, but I need it to provide that full integration.
“It’s no use if it’s stand-alone and then someone has to transcribe it into the patient’s record, so I’m looking at everything from start to finish,” Bryant said.
Focus on population health
He ‘Our Dorset Digital Strategy 2026-2030‘, sets out how the unified EPR is planned to enable an increasing focus on population health, as data quality, consistency and system-wide adoption matures across all neighborhoods.
David Shannon, Somerset FT’s digital strategy and development director and joint SRO, said: “The clinically led and digitally driven program will improve clinical quality, patient experience, staff experience and operational effectiveness, as well as opening up new opportunities for research and innovation.”
He contract with Epic began on March 13, 2026 and will run until March 11, 2036, with a full implementation planned for April 2028.
Mercedes McCoy, vice president at Epic, said: “Dorset and Somerset trusts are connecting hospital, community and mental health services on a single platform.
“We look forward to working together with their teams to achieve this: giving doctors a complete view of the patient’s story and giving patients a more active role in managing their own health.”
Meanwhile, in January 2025, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust signed a contract with Epic for an EPR, as part of plans to roll out a unified EPR across Devon under the A Devon EPR Program.
You can listen to Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic, on the Digital Health Unplugged podcast.
