The Royal Marsden goes live with new Epic EPR ‘Connect’

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with Connect, a new electronic patient record (EPR) powered by Epic.

Connect launched on Friday 17 March as part of a transformation programme the trust is taking part in to significantly improve its technological capabilities.

The launch was deemed a success, with many heavily involved in the project voicing their delight on social media, including chief information officer (CIO) at the trust, David Newey, who said on Twitter:

Today was a good day! Of all the go lives I’ve been party to, this was the smoothest, in no small part to an amazing team, Trust and our supplier community. ❤️????

— David Newey (@NHSNewey) March 17, 2023

Chief nursing information officer (CNIO) at The Royal Marsden, Hayley Grafton, also expressed her joy on Twitter following the go live:

We are live! 2 drug rounds in the bank, a handover, admissions, discharges and seemless sample label printing (eventually). A roller coaster of a day, but as smooth as we could have hoped and the patients continue to receive top quality care! Well done and thanks to all ????

— Hayley Grafton (@HayleyGrafton) March 18, 2023

The trust announced on social media that there will be some after-effects of moving to a new digital health record whilst staff adapt to the changes.

A tweet on the official The Royal Marsden Twitter account read: “As staff get used to working with our new Connect system, there will be some delays to our services and longer on-the-day waiting times for appointments, prescriptions and test results.

“We would like to thank you for your understanding as we adapt to the new platform. Staff are doing all they can to continue to provide outstanding levels of care while learning to use a new system. Thank you in advance for your patience and consideration.”

The system upgrade at the trust also included the introduction of a new patient app and website called MyMarsden. MyMarsden will transform the way that patients can engage with the trust’s services and experience their care.

It will offer a variety of ways for patients to receive information, contribute to care records, interact with clinicians, and contribute to research, all from their own mobile devices or personal PCs.

The trust communicated that patients may notice staff using mobile phones and devices that look like mobile phones; however, this is to access the Connect system and therefore staff on phones are using them to provide patient care.

Earlier this month, we reported that The Royal Marsden has developed a wellbeing app with Careology that delivers emotional support to young people during cancer treatment, another example of the trust embracing the digital age.