It is one year since our electronic patient record, Epic, was rolled out across Northern Devon. It first went live across our Eastern services in October 2020.

For the past year we have had a Trust-wide single patient record for each of our patients, which is helping us to streamline and deliver joined-up care across our services.

Epic has enabled our two acute hospitals to work together seamlessly despite the fact they are 60 miles apart. With a single patient record and the support of video technology, a patient from Northern Devon can be seen by a specialist in Eastern Devon and vice versa, helping to reduce waiting times for patients and preventing travel times for both patients and clinicians.

Having a single digital record for each patient improves the visibility of information between medical teams, which helps to improve safety and quality of care. This same digital record also offers patients better access to information about their own care through the Epic MY CARE app. You can learn more about the MYCARE app including how to download it here.

Patient Mark Rogers had this to say about MY CARE: "I would just like to say how impressed I am with the ability to use the Epic MY CARE app virtually to follow up all medical appointments and recent correspondence I have received within the Trust. This has been very reassuring as I have been receiving information in a timely manner whilst awaiting further treatment in hospital.

"I can access my blood results, telephone consultations and recent scan results which has helped me to have further discussions with the surgical teams supporting my care. I have encouraged my family to access the app as well. This is very much needed in today’s busy times and avoids having to wait for letters to arrive which increases any worries. Well done to the Epic team making this possible."