A new era in Northern Ireland’s health service as all Trusts ‘Go-Live’ on encompass

Date published: 8 May 2025

Today, the Southern and Western Health and Social Care Trusts have completed ‘Go-Live’ on encompass which is now operational in all Trust areas, marking a new era for NI’s health and social care service.

encompass is a clinically and operationally-led integrated care record system, and allows for a single digital care record for every citizen in Northern Ireland who receives health and social care. The Southern and Western Trust join the South Eastern, Belfast and Northern Trusts which went live over the last 18 months.

Patients and service users across the region of Northern Ireland will be able to access their health information online via My Care, the patient portal. My Care is available via app or webpage and it enables patients and service users to play a more active role in their care.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said: “Today marks a significant milestone in Northern Ireland’s health and social care service, as the final two Health Trusts ‘Go-Live’ on encompass. Its introduction across the Trusts places HSC Northern Ireland in the forefront of digital transformation of health service delivery.

“This has been a concerted effort across the whole of the Health and Social Care system since it was first announced in 2020, and I want to sincerely thank each of those who have played a key role in getting us here. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and has allowed Northern Ireland to modernise our systems and fundamentally improve how we deliver care.”

Tom Simpson, Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer at the Department of Health and Director of Digital Health and Care Northern Ireland, said: “Today is a really important day for the transformation of our Health and Care sector. This isn’t just a new IT system, it is about changing how the sector works so that our staff have the right tools to deliver the best service for all in Northern Ireland.

“encompass streamlines how care is delivered by giving care workers quick access to the right information at the right time. It eliminates heavy paper records, reduces repeat tests and helps hospital-based pharmacists manage medicines more safely. It also provides better quality data to help improve services for the future and achieve better outcomes.”

Dr. Dermot Hughes, the Senior Responsible Owner for encompass, said: “A significant step for HSCNI has been achieved as encompass is now live in Southern and Western Trusts. This completes the roll-out of a single, unified digital care record across each health and social care Trust in Northern Ireland. This outcome is the result of many years of hard work and collaboration by thousands of staff, within Trusts, the core encompass team, the BSO and the DHCNI. I thank everyone involved for their commitment and expertise. 

“encompass will transform how we deliver care by making it safer, more connected and more patient-centric and by ensuring that the right information is available at the right time. It will transform patient experience and patient information. This is a proud day for the health and social care service and a powerful step towards a healthier future for all in Northern Ireland.” 

The Northern Ireland health and social care service has partnered with the global company Epic to build encompass, taking the best processes and software from the world’s leading hospital organisations, and tailoring it to the needs of Northern Ireland. Epic currently provides electronic records for over 300 million people across the globe.

Bringing encompass live across Northern Ireland has involved a huge amount of work from people and professionals across HSC, involving Trusts, the Department of Health and its colleagues in both Digital Health and Care NI (DHCNI) and  Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) and the HSC’s Business Services Organisation (BSO).