Altera Digital Health’s Sunrise electronic patient record with integrated patient administration system has gone live at Fordcombe Hospital, a hospital acquired by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) from private provider Spire Healthcare.
MTW officially took over the running of the renamed Fordcombe Hospital on 1 October 2024 following the purchase of the site in April 2024. MTW is now helping to enhance clinical services and provide additional NHS capacity across the region.
Altera’s integrated solution is supporting the hospital as the trust expands care capacity and treats a significant number of the longest-waiting patients in Kent and Medway. Almost 1,700 patients have already been transferred to MTW for treatment and a further 800 will be transferred by the end of March 2025.
Fordcombe Hospital is the 23rd NHS hospital across England to go live with Altera’s Sunrise EPR. MTW has been successfully using the system throughout its other hospital sites since introducing it in 2021, when it went live across all 32 adult inpatient wards, three paediatric areas, two emergency departments, order communications, and outpatient services.
The rollout at Fordcombe Hospital took less than six months. Once the IT infrastructure was in place, patients were registered on the hospital systems and the new teams were trained on how to use the integrated PAS and Sunrise within two weeks.
MTW is using the newly acquired hospital to provide planned care in ear, nose and throat; orthopaedics; gastroenterology; diagnostics; and endoscopy. The additional facilities include two theatres; 28 inpatient and day care beds; additional diagnostics including X-ray, MRI, CT and endoscopy; and a number of consultation and treatment rooms.
Sue Forsey, Director of IT at MTW, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for the NHS in Kent and Medway that is benefiting patients across our communities. I’m pleased we’ve been able to support the new facility with an effective EPR foundation as it moves forward to reduce waiting lists and respond to increasing demand. The trust is already seeing the impact the additional capacity is making to patient care and experience. I want to thank everyone involved for their fantastic support and hard work over the last six months.”
Rachael Fox, Executive Vice President, EMEA at Altera Digital Health, said: “I would like to congratulate MTW on successfully acquiring Fordcombe Hospital and going live with its integrated Sunrise EPR. The Altera team takes great pride in providing the trust with its integrated clinical and patient administration solution to support increasing capacity. Completing the EPR implementation within six months is an excellent achievement. Sunrise can be deployed at pace and scale, and delivers convergence across multiple sites to adapt to the increasing requirements in healthcare delivery and data sharing, due to its flexibility and agility.”
MTW is one of the best performing acute hospital trusts in the country against a backdrop of record-breaking attendances, and colleagues recently ranked the trust in the top 10 hospital trusts to work for in England.
