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NHS England plans EPR for prisons and detention centres
The government is looking to procure an electronic patient record system with the aim of improving health records access for individuals in the justice system
The government has issued a prior information notice for an electronic patient record (EPR) system to improve access to health records in the justice system.
The EPR will cover individuals in prisons, youth referral services, detention centres and detained estates, and any information captured must be accessible for other health practitioners across all healthcare settings.
The overall aim is to harness technology in the justice system and remove gaps in digital integration in prison healthcare. This is part of NHS England’s health and justice strategy, published in 2022, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people in prison, reduce health inequalities, and support access to and continuity of care once individuals are released back into the community.
“We know that many people within the justice system experience greater health problems than the rest of the population but do not regularly access care,” the 2022 strategy document said, adding that it also aims to reduce reoffending and support rehabilitation “by addressing health-related drivers of offending behaviour”.
The government is looking to procure an EPR that provides equal access to “comprehensive health records”, and is seamlessly interoperable with systems used in general primary care, as well as other technologies.
The procurement notice, which is open to small and medium-sized enterprises, said it also needs to be “safe and able to manage health records that enable timely access to medical interventions, preventative care and holistic wellness for every individual within the justice system”.
“Additionally, over the lifetime of the contract, the supplier will be able to provide insight into future developments that will improve the system functionality, accessibility to data, reduce data entry errors, and provides data analysis tools for commissioners to access and improve care to patients,” it said.
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- As social care is moving towards meeting its target of 80% of providers having digital records, the Department for Health and Social Care calls on them to ensure the digital systems meet national standards.
- Digital technologies could help the government’s ambition of delivering care at home for longer, but community services suffer from a lack of basic technologies and access to funding, according to the King’s Fund.
- Investigation by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body finds some online tools used in general practices could cause risk to patient safety and impact GP workload.
NHS England is holding a market engagement event in Leeds on 16 September to allow suppliers to better understand the requirements, how healthcare works in prisons, and the planned contracting model and procurement process.
Suppliers interested in attending can register their interest on the Health Family Portal, where the government is also providing further information about the event.
Ministry of Justice chief digital information officer Gina Gill said in March 2024 that the way prisons are run is “very antiquated”, and that the prison system is currently in the process of being digitally transformed to be less reliant on paper.
The Covid-19 pandemic did improve technology in prisons, allowing for video visits, but the sector still relies on paper forms for the majority of requests and actions.
Gill added that the printer is “probably the most important and critical technology” prisons have.
“Because if [the printer] breaks, then everything else stops working,” she said. “If you want to order something from the canteen, you fill in a form. If you want to see a medical professional, you fill in a form.”
