Hospice Care North Northumberland (HCNN), established in 1995, provides end of life care, family bereavement support, and dementia services across the North Northumberland region.
To modernise its paper-based processes and improve the quality and responsiveness of care, HCNN commissioned the Digital Transformation and Optimisation Service (DTOS) team to implement an electronic patient record system tailored to its service needs, namely TPP SystmOne.
The new system, launched in February 2026, has transformed the way the hospice records and accesses patient information. Staff now benefit from real time access to clinical records, enabling faster decision making, reducing duplication, and minimising the risk of errors. Patients and families are experiencing more personalised and coordinated support, while the organisation has
strengthened its reporting capability and increased its potential for securing future funding.
The introduction of digital workflows has also enhanced collaboration among healthcare professionals, ensuring that those involved in a patient’s care can share information instantly and work together more effectively.
The challenge
HCNN lacked an integrated Electronic Patient Record (EPR), while partner multidisciplinary teams used digital systems that allow them to share and view patient information electronically. As a result, HCNN’s paper-based processes caused delays in receiving essential clinical information and reduce visibility of records held by community partners, including GP practices. This led to delays in receiving previous or current treatment information, incomplete or missing data, and a fragmented approach to care.
Staff also faced inefficiencies such as limited access to safeguarding status, diagnosis, and medication details; duplication of demographic information across multiple documents; repeated reporting entries; and the risk of lost records when relatives do not return paper files after a patient’s death. As a charity reliant on external funding, the lack of electronic reporting also restricted the ability to collate data that could support future funding opportunities.
Our approach
In preparation for go live, several key prerequisites were identified early in the project. The team supported the service in securing its Organisation Data Service (ODS) code and completing the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), which was validated against the IG Toolkit. During this process, an issue was identified where the service’s IG Toolkit entry had been published incorrectly. The DTOS team worked quickly to resolve this, preventing any delays to the planned February 2026 go live.
DTOS collaborated closely with the hospice to understand its operational requirements, guiding the team through the completion of the questionnaire and order form required by TPP to determine the appropriate Unit type for the service. The project team then engaged with the two key service leads to develop a clear project timeline, setting out milestones and deliverables, and ensuring the hospice fully understood the implications of a short notice change freeze announced by TPP for over the Christmas period, which could have affected the go live dates.
Once the initial challenges surrounding Unit lead times were resolved, DTOS’s training lead and business change and benefits lead worked in partnership with the service to ensure all staff received the right level of training. This involved:
- Accommodating varied work patterns
- Mapping existing processes to enable a seamless configuration of the new unit
- Ensuring all smartcards were issued with the correct access permissions
- Configuring and preparing 18 laptops to provide secure access to SystmOne.
The results
The service successfully went live on 3 February 2026 as planned, having proactively registered all new patients on SystmOne ahead of the launch date. Staff made full use of the clinical and non clinical templates within the system and conducted weekly report runs to ensure that all key performance indicators (KPIs) were being captured accurately and utilised the training team supporting them in their post go live phase.
To support seamless information sharing, neighbouring GP practices were advised to add the hospice’s unit to their SystmOne sharing in rules. This enabled instant access, with the patient’s permission, to relevant patient records for those under HCNN’s care, providing clinicians with up to date medical histories. As a result, the service has been able to make faster clinical decisions, reduce omissions in information and strengthen its reporting capabilities for future planning and funding opportunities.
The success of the implementation was further reinforced by the positive engagement and leadership shown across the service. Led by Lindsay Black and Ann Corak, the team demonstrated a strong willingness to embrace change and adopt new digital ways of working. Their commitment and proactive involvement played a crucial role in ensuring a smooth transition to the new electronic system.
Looking ahead, the service is continuing to enhance its digital maturity through the gradual introduction of new functionality. This includes onboarding Great North Care Record access and exploring tools such as the BRIGID app to assess whether additional features could further meet service needs.
The customer feedback received at the end of the project was exceptionally positive. The formal feedback form highlighted the NECS team’s professionalism, the quality of the training delivered, and the smoothness of the overall project delivery. The service noted that the team was “a credit to NECS,” reflecting the strong relationships built throughout the deployment.
From Lindsay and the clinical team: “Thank you once again, Claire… it’s been a huge learning curve for me personally, and you have all been amazing to work with. We are already finding the system so helpful and giving us more continuity to run our service. Each day we are managing to do something else…
From Chief Executive, Chris Orife: “Thanks Claire, much appreciated, and it has been a smooth implementation from our point of view. We are grateful for your support to get us to this point. I’m sure we will have the usual ‘panics’ as we learn the full functionality of the system, and we hope that everything goes well for the future of the NECS service, whatever it will be called or wherever it is hosted…”