Electronic patient record rollouts hit contract friction in three regions

Three regional digitisation programmes have run into contract disputes with suppliers over integration work that trusts say was assumed to be in scope.

Chief information officers describe a familiar pattern. The core record goes live, then the cost of connecting departmental systems, imaging and community services emerges as a separate line of spend.

Suppliers argue that trusts have expanded requirements well beyond the original specification. Both sides accept that the timetable set nationally left little room for the discovery work that complex integrations require.

The practical consequence is that clinicians in affected organisations continue to work across parallel systems, with the safety risks that implies.