Critical incident declared after EPR launch

A hospital trust has declared a critical incident following the launch of its new electronic patient record system.

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) went live with the Nervecentre EPR over the weekend but “technical issues” with the rollout have resulted in “prolonged periods of downtime”.

In an email sent to staff and seen by HSJ, the trust said it declared a critical incident on Tuesday as it was experiencing a “prolonged period of sustained pressure” due to high demand and acuity, as well as challenges around staffing, flow and discharge.

This was compounded by the issues with the new EPR, which had led to business continuity plans being enacted.

The trust said: “We know how difficult the issues with [the] EPR are making an already challenging situation, and we are sorry for the impact it is having. Our teams are working tirelessly alongside our EPR provider, Nervecentre, to resolve performance issues as quickly as possible.”

However, the trust added that it “will only return to Nervecentre when we have confidence in the ability of the EPR to handle demand”.

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Source: HSJ, 5 November 2025

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