Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys signs contract to deploy Access EPR

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) has signed a contract with The Access Group to implement its electronic patient record (EPR) system. 

The Access Rio Evo system, designed for community health, mental health and child health, provides a connected view of patients, allowing clinical and administrative processes to be managed in one place across care settings.

The partnership will enable integration by sharing data across care settings and the public, leading to improved population health outcome.

Nick Black, chief information officer and senior information risk owner at TEWV, told Digital Health News: “Following a robust procurement process, we have awarded a contract to The Access Group to implement its Rio Evo Electronic Patient Record system across our trust.

“This marks a key milestone in our trust’s long-term digital strategy. Our ambition is to provide our clinical teams with modern, reliable and intuitive technology that brings patient information together in one place and supports safer, more efficient ways of working.

“Rio Evo will be a core part of our digital foundation for the future. It will help us improve how we work today, while giving us a system that can adapt as service models, clinical practice and technology evolve.

“Work has already begun, with our clinical colleagues playing a central role in shaping the system and how it will be used in practice.”

He posted on LinkedIn that the plans to switch to the new system in April 2027.

TEWV will implement the latest version of the Rio EPR alongside the Evo platform, which offers modern, cloud-hosted infrastructure, removing the need for on-premise servers and enabling scalable, resilient system performance in line with NHS digital standards.

It also enables single sign-on (SSO) access, simplifying how clinicians and staff authenticate across systems and reducing the friction of managing multiple logins.

Steve Wightman, managing director, healthcare at The Access Group, said: “As one of the largest mental health trusts in the NHS, the rollout of the latest version of our EPR – Rio Evo – will be pivotal in improving productivity and efficiency for staff and helping connect healthcare services across TEWV’s communities.

“We’re delighted to be supporting the team with their strategic ambition to scale up their digital plans and capitalise on additional features such as AI.

“We have already had our first sessions to demonstrate all the additional capability that Evo can offer and TEWV has identified several areas where we can configure and make a very big impact together.”

In May 2025, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust rolled out the Rio EPR system, as part of plans to streamline workflows across the organisation, reducing administrative burden for staff and enhancing the patient experience.