CHFT's Digital Health Team hosted a visit from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Frontline Digital and Technical Assurance Team last week.

The team's role within the Cabinet Office is to assess and sign off large-scale technical business cases, such as EPR, on behalf of HM Treasury.

Chief Digital and Information Officer, Rob Birkett, said: "They had asked to come to CHFT based on what they had heard about us being a progressive, forward-thinking Trust. They wanted to see the positive impact an established, embedded EPR and it's associated systems can have on the delivery of patient care."

The team spent time on the Acute Floor, SAU and in ED at HRI seeing a number of our digital developments being used in the delivery of patient care. They were also keen to understand our extensive use of data both in terms of real time and predictive analytics, as well as our new Integrated Performance Report (IPR). We also talked about how we provide a shared EPR support team across two (soon to be three with Airedale coming on board this year) organisations, and the benefits of commonality of systems to support provider collaboration.

The team were extremely complimentary around how we've embedded digital across our organisation, but also around our culture, openness to change and welcoming and open approach to their visit. They will be presenting what they have learned back to their wider teams.

Rob added: "This will present CHFT in a positive light and show how we use central funding to continually improve our delivery of care."

The DHSC Team said after their visit: "Thank you CHFT. It was a super helpful and informative day. So grateful to you and the team for accommodating us and giving up your time."