Future is 'Epic' for Torbay health service patients

Patients and staff across Torbay and South Devon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are set to benefit from a new Devon-wide electronic patient record system.

The Epic EPR introduces a modern and trusted digital platform that ensures staff can access patients’ health and care information quickly and securely. It is due to go live on Friday (April 3).

Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust staff and patients have already been experiencing the benefits of the Epic EPR, which was introduced for east Devon in 2020 and for North Devon in 2022.   

When University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust switches on Epic on July 23, 2026, the new shared EPR will create one single electronic patient record system for staff in multiple hospital and community sites across Devon. 

For patients, this will mean no matter which hospital they attend in Devon, they don’t have to remember their medical history or repeat the same information to different members of staff, making their care journey more joined-up.  

Safely delivering the Epic system to Torbay and South Devon and University Hospitals Plymouth has been achieved through collaborative working across all organisations, benefiting from the experience gained from the Royal Devon.  

Clinical and administrative teams have jointly designed the shared system to standardise delivery of care across Devon. 

Digital teams have provided the underlying infrastructure and devices to enable our staff to support patient needs across all sites where this care is delivered, including patients’ homes. Important information from our legacy systems will be available within the new system to ensure that staff still have access to all the information they need.   

Professor Adrian Harris, Chief Medical Officer (Digital and Research) for the Royal Devon and Senior Responsible Owner for the One Devon EPR Programme said: “This is quite simply one of the biggest changes to health care in Devon in a generation. The introduction of a single EPR across the county will see many benefits for years to come as more comprehensive data, provided in real-time, will support the delivery of improved patient outcomes, higher quality research and advanced service planning.”  

The launch of Epic integrates hundreds of systems previously in use across the trust into one single, electronic system, giving staff a complete overview of a person’s medical record and freeing up more time to spend on patient care. 

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust’s Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Adel Jones said: “I am incredibly proud of our teams and our partners who have worked extremely hard to get this fantastic new system live. Over the coming weeks and months, I am confident we will begin to see the full benefits of Epic realised for patients and staff.” 

For patients, one of the most exciting parts of the EPR is the new MY CARE patient portal, a new app and online service that puts information about care in the hands of patients. MY CARE summarises patients' medical information and interactions with their clinical team into one place. It also allows patients to securely and easily access some elements of their health record, including appointment data, giving them more control over their care. 

Chief Clinical Information Officer Mr Michael Green said: “The MY CARE patient portal is about much more than technology - it’s about improving the way we care for people. By giving patients timely access to their information, we can support better conversations, more personalised care and a smoother experience across our services. It’s an important step forward for patients, families, carers and staff.” 

Mark Laird, a patient at Royal Devon said: “Since MY CARE everything has changed. Each time I get a test result or letter, I can look things up which I couldn't do before because on paper, you never got to really look at your notes. But now, obviously you can. You can see what things mean, all the little numbers, very long words, or whatever the doctors use, I normally look up and now I'm very in the know of what's going on. 

“It was hard to manage lots of appointments and I kept losing track of them. I had to be in three or four different places for different appointments one time; Bideford, Exeter, Barnstaple, and Taunton all in one day. It's hard to travel around, especially when you’re so ill like I am. MY CARE has been good to manage and spread out your appointments to suit your needs.”