University Hospitals of Derby and Burton and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS trusts join groundbreaking Nervecentre EPR platform

A new era of patient care has begun across Derbyshire and Staffordshire. On 4th February, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) and Chesterfield Royal Hospital (CRH) were the first NHS trusts to join Nervecentre’s ultra-scaleable cloud–native EPR platform, which enables collaboration and seamless information sharing between providers.

This ambitious initiative promises to revolutionise healthcare delivery across the region.

Just ten months after the contract signing, clinicians at hospitals in Derbyshire and Staffordshire are already experiencing the benefits of this pioneering deployment. Six hospitals went live at the same time – and on the planned date.

Splitting the deployment across several tranches is allowing the trusts to roll out the EPR quickly and safely while minimising the risks, disruption, and impact on staff and patients. The initial tranche of the rollout focused on mobile capabilities deployed in the hospitals’ emergency departments and inpatient wards, designed to boost efficiency and enhance patient safety.

A progressive implementation also allows benefits to be realised from day one, and the impact on safety has been immediate at UHDB and CRH. For example, nearly 90,000 sepsis screening notes were added in the first 48 hours after going live, significantly improving early detection and intervention.

Four other acute trusts in the Midlands also signed contracts with Nervecentre in 2024. These trusts, along with UHDB and CRH, belong to the East Midlands Acute Providers network. By joining the same unified platform, they are poised to create a regional powerhouse for digital health transformation. This collaborative approach includes shared expertise and best practices, demonstrated by the 30 staff members from other trusts who were on-site at UHDB and CRH to support the go-live.

Debbie Loke, UHDB’s Executive Chief Digital Information Officer, explained the significance of this region-wide collaboration: “Our digital systems have a huge impact on how our clinical colleagues deliver care to our patients and our aim has always been to make real improvements to the day-to-day working lives of our colleagues. Going live with Nervecentre across six hospital sites for more than 7,000 colleagues is a significant step in our digital transformation journey. Colleagues across UHDB and Chesterfield Royal Hospital have worked together to bring these improvements to our colleagues, supporting safer and higher quality care for our patients and the communities we serve.

“We are grateful for the support of colleagues across both trusts who have embraced this digital advancement and the East Midlands Acute Providers network, who assisted our clinical teams during the go-live period with Nervecentre experts based on wards providing direct help to colleagues using the system for the first time since their training. This is a truly collaborative approach across the entire region in a way that we haven’t experienced before.”

Dr Jon Cort, Chief Digital Officer at CRH, said, “The EPR system is a vital part of our digital transformation journey at CRH. It brings numerous benefits to our patients, improves the day-to-day operations of our healthcare professionals, and exemplifies our commitment to harnessing technology for better healthcare outcomes. We look forward to a future where digital solutions play an integral role in delivering exceptional care to our community.”

Nervecentre CEO, Paul Volkaerts, said, “University Hospitals of Derby and Burton and Chesterfield Royal Hospital are the first two trusts to go live on our cloud EPR platform. The availability of a feature-rich cloud-scale EPR marks a turning point in NHS EPR architecture, and we are delighted that this first phase of the EPR rollout has already started to deliver benefits to the trusts’ staff and patients.”

“Over the coming months, additional trusts will follow the path set by UHDB and CRH and join this very same platform, exponentially increasing the value of seamless data sharing. We look forward to supporting these NHS trusts to transform together.”

“We’re now uniquely positioned to help the NHS solve some of its most pressing issues, like improving productivity, efficiency, and quality.”

The digital health revolution in Derbyshire and Staffordshire is not only underway, it’s setting a new national standard.