18 July 2018

CUH runs Addenbrooke’s and is also one of 16 trusts selected by NHS England for its digital excellence.

Novosco has been awarded the contract to manage IT infrastructure and support services for Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust. 

Said to be one of the UK’s largest health trusts, CUH runs Addenbrooke’s and The Rosie maternity hospitals. It is also one of 16 Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) trusts selected by NHS England for its digital excellence and maturity.

Managed cloud provider Novosco has offices in Belfast, Manchester and Dublin. Under a contract worth £107m over seven years, the company will provide a range of services to support CUH’s acclaimed eHospital digital programme, which enables clinicians to use the latest technology to provide high quality patient care, as well as Epic, its electronic patient record system.

The services that Novosco will provide to the trust include: installing new secure platforms for application hosting; updating end-user computing devices and print solutions; installing resilient and reliable networks; and delivering the technology that will enable the Trust to achieve its GDE objectives.

Cambridge University Hospitals director of digital, Dr. Jag Ahluwalia, says: “The further digital development of our hospital is central to improving care for our patients and providing a better experience for our staff.”

In October 2014, CUH made history by becoming the first NHS trust to implement Epic across both its hospitals, whilst simultaneously upgrading its entire computing estate.

Epic brings all clinical and administrative information relating to a patient in one place, recorded in real time. This is said to improve quality, reduce duplication, and eliminate unnecessary delays to patient care. 

The system is used in both inpatient and outpatient areas, and spans all major clinical areas: A&E, wards, critical care, outpatient clinics, surgery, pharmacy, laboratory, and radiology services. Novosco says there are typically 3,200 concurrent clinical staff accessing Epic at peak times.