The start of the year saw a range of ongoing engagement events including drop in awareness sessions, recruitment roadshows, meetings and system demonstrations, with almost 300 held across all five HSC Trusts and partner organisations.
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service personnel at an engagement event in Ballymena.
In February the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust was selected as the first HSC NI organisation to implement the digital record.
June saw almost 500 staff across HSC attend a joint meeting of the encompass Care Forum and Business Support Forum, to hear details around the functionality and scope of the new system.
A lengthy and rigorous procurement process to select the right partner to deliver and implement the new system culminated in June, with the announcement that Epic was the preferred supplier.
Development work on the Full Business Case continued and was formally submitted to the Department of Health at the end of July.
In October around 1,800 staff from all health and social care sectors attended three regional demonstrations of the new solution, presented by Epic staff. It gave staff the opportunity to see how an integrated record will work across different healthcare settings.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride, with members of the encompass team.
November and December was a busy time for staff recruitment, with assessments underway for workflow analyst and principal trainer roles and a number of other key posts advertised.
Full Business Case was reviewed and submitted to the Department of Finance at the end of December.
The start of 2020 will see the recruitment process complete for core build team roles and the team move to new offices in Clarendon Dock, Belfast.
encompass remains on track for FBC approval and subsequent contract signing in early 2020.
Early 2020 will see further recruitment of roles across technical dependencies team.
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