Digital Support for Winter Pressures in Northamptonshire
It’s been a productive few months for the Northamptonshire Care Record (NCR) team, connecting critical services to patient data.
As we move into the challenging winter period, we’re pleased to share some of the progress we’ve made to ensure health and care professionals have faster, clearer access to the information they need for safe, effective direct care.
“I am so proud of all that the Northamptonshire Digital Team and stakeholders have accomplished to improve sharing of health and care data across Northamptonshire. The Northamptonshire Care Record continues to move forwards in leaps and bounds, driven by the teams steadfast effort and unstinting enthusiasm.” Kirstie Watson, Digital Director, Northamptonshire ICB.
Welcoming New Users Across the County and Beyond
We’re delighted to welcome colleagues from Derbyshire Health United (DHU), including the Out of Hours service and NHS 111. These teams play a vital role in urgent and unscheduled care, often seeing patients who may not be able to share their full medical history. Having access to the NCR means they can view up-to-date information at the point of care, helping them make confident clinical decisions and provide safer, more personalised support.
We also extend a warm welcome to clinicians at the Corby Urgent Treatment Centre, who now benefit from immediate access to shared patient information when assessing and treating people who walk in without a full clinical background. The NCR supports faster decision-making and reduces the need for patients to repeat their story during stressful situations.
We’re similarly pleased to welcome new users from Marie Curie. Access to the NCR allows their teams to view crucial, time-specific information such as ReSPECT plans, current medications, and recent hospital activity. Because Marie Curie staff often support patients out of hours, this information may not be available from any other source at the time they need it. Having immediate access to accurate, up-to-date records helps ensure patients receive safe, consistent and compassionate care whenever they need it most.
A Smarter, Cleaner User Interface
All users now have access to an improved NCR interface designed around real-world clinical workflows. The refreshed look and feel offer:
• A cleaner, more modern layout
• Easier navigation between information areas
• More key information visible at a glance
• A smoother, more intuitive user experience
This update has been a highly anticipated enhancement, and early feedback has been extremely positive.
New Copy-and-Paste Functionality
We’ve also introduced the ability to copy and paste text to and from the NCR. This small but significant improvement can save valuable time, particularly when working with care plans or coordinating multi-agency input. Clinicians can now transfer relevant information more efficiently and with less manual duplication, supporting improved accuracy and workflow.
Expanded Data: Vaccinations & Immunisations
Another major step forward is the addition of new vaccination and immunisation data from Northamptonshire Community Foundation Trust. This means clinicians can quickly check a patient’s vaccination status without searching across multiple systems, especially helpful in urgent care, community services and winter preparedness.
Supporting Winter Pressures
As services across health and care brace for a busy winter, the Shared Care Record continues to play an essential role in supporting teams under pressure. With around 50,000 patient records viewed each month, the NCR is helping reduce duplication, prevent delays, and improve coordination across the system, delivering real efficiency savings when they’re needed most.
Moving Forward Together
Matthew Hutton, ICB Digital Lead said “The work to improve the experience for our clinical and care colleagues, the increase in organisations using our care record, and the improvement of the data coming in - it all adds to the quality of what the Northamptonshire Care Record does for people in our county. It has been a massive effort from my team and colleagues across our provider organisations to make such large steps forward. We always have more to do, but 2025 has been a great year for improving how we share health and care across Northamptonshire.”
Thank you to all partners and teams for your continued support and feedback. Every enhancement and new connection strengthens our shared aim: to provide better, safer, more joined-up care for the people of Northamptonshire.
If your team would like additional training, support or information about using the Northamptonshire Care Record, please get in touch: northantsicb.northamptonshirecarerecord@nhs.net