The Right Digital Adoption Platform for EPR Projects
Why EPR Projects Are Decided in Operations
An EPR can be carefully planned, implemented and technically signed off. Project plans are met, milestones reached, go-live checklists completed. Formally, the project is a success.
But this formal perspective misses the decisive question: is the EPR being used in daily clinical practice in a way that genuinely relieves pressure on the organisation?
That question does not get answered in a project meeting. It gets answered where documentation, prescribing and clinical decisions happen under time pressure. When clinicians move between patients. When nurses conduct handovers. When processes need to work without detours, because there simply is no time for anything else.
This is where the success of an EPR project is determined. Not at go-live — but in daily use.
The Blind Spot in Many EPR Projects: Adoption After Go-Live
With go-live, the project ends. At least organisationally. Operationally, however, a new phase begins — one that follows a strikingly similar pattern across NHS trusts. Shortly after go-live, support requests rise. Digital Champions become a permanent point of contact. IT fields clinical queries that originate in the workflow. In parallel, workarounds emerge — not from resistance, but from pragmatism.
The EPR works technically. Organisationally, it is not yet stable.
The reason is rarely the system itself. What is frequently missing is a structured answer to the question of how new processes become embedded in everyday clinical practice. Usage is assumed, but not actively supported. Knowledge was transferred during training, but is not available at the moment it is needed.
For CIOs and digital leads, this is a critical point. Uncertainty in system use leads directly to data quality problems in the EPR — and data quality has real clinical consequences. NHS England's own evidence shows that EPR implementations led to a 3.5 percentage point reduction in average sepsis mortality for surgical inpatients. The quality of data entered into the system is not an administrative concern. It is a patient safety issue.
At the same time, poor adoption drives up support costs and shapes how the digital team is perceived across the trust.
Why Conventional Training Approaches Reach Their Limits in NHS Practice
Training is an indispensable part of every EPR project. It creates orientation and establishes foundations. What it cannot reliably deliver is confidence in live operations.
Between training and real-world application, days or weeks often pass. When the specific situation arises, the knowledge is no longer present — or does not map precisely to the context. Under time pressure, staff fall back on familiar patterns.
The diversity of roles in an NHS trust compounds this. Medical staff, nursing, allied health professionals, administrative teams and operational functions all work with the same system, but with entirely different requirements. Generic training programmes can only partially reflect these differences.
Language is an additional factor. NHS trusts employ significant numbers of internationally trained clinical staff. In complex training situations, language barriers translate directly into reduced confidence in system use — and reduced confidence in system use translates into workarounds and data quality gaps. The NHS EPR Usability Survey 2024 reinforces the scale of this challenge: 60 % of doctors and 70 % of nurses said they would welcome additional EPR training, and 44 % reported receiving no further training after joining their organisation.
The pace of change adds further pressure. Releases, new modules, regulatory requirements and internal process adjustments generate continuous new training demand. The effort grows; the sustained impact remains limited.
The conclusion is clear: training is necessary, but not sufficient to secure lasting adoption.
What CIOs and Digital Leads Actually Need to Manage
CIOs and CCIOs are responsible for EPR projects not only as IT programmes, but as integral parts of live NHS operations. What matters is whether the system can be run reliably, safely and efficiently.
A critical success factor lies outside conventional IT governance: the usage behaviour of clinical and operational staff. Uncertain or incorrect system use affects data quality directly — and data quality affects patient safety.
At the same time, usage cannot be mandated. It emerges where processes are understood, confidently executed and practical in the working day. Where that confidence is absent, support demand rises.
NHS England's "What Good Looks Like" framework sets out the expectation that digital systems are not only deployed, but actively used to improve care. The 2025 Digital Maturity Assessment found that while 93 % of trusts have an EPR, only 30 % have fully integrated, bi-directional data flows. The gap between deployment and genuine adoption is measurable — and it has consequences for benefits realisation.
Adoption, then, is not a soft topic. It is a core operational responsibility.
Digital Adoption in the EPR Context: Rethought
In an NHS environment, Digital Adoption means more than an additional help function within the system. The focus is not primarily on click paths, but on support that activates precisely at the moment of application.
Knowledge is not transferred in advance and retrieved later. It is provided contextually — role-specific, situation-appropriate and embedded in the actual workflow. For clinical and operational staff, this does not feel like training. It feels like orientation in the working day.
For CIOs and digital leads, this creates an operational lever. Digital Adoption moves from an abstract aspiration to an instrument for accompanying usage, absorbing the impact of change and stabilising operations.
Why the tts performance suite Is the Right Answer
The tts performance suite treats Digital Adoption not as an add-on, but as a structural complement to the EPR. It creates an enablement layer that secures usage and makes change manageable in live operations.
A significant proportion of support requests after EPR go-lives originates in uncertainty about process execution. The tts performance suite addresses this directly, providing contextual guidance within the EPR — step by step, role-specific and without switching between systems.
Experience from comparable EPR and enterprise IT projects shows that support request volumes can be reduced by approximately 25 to 40 % through this approach. Dependency on Digital Champions falls noticeably at the same time.
The same logic applies to releases and process changes. Adjustments are accompanied immediately within the system, rather than explained after the fact. Hypercare phases — the intensive support period after go-live that NHS England has recognised as a critical pressure point, investing £13.3 million in Tiger Team capacity in 2024 — typically shorten by 20 to 30 %, as staff develop stable routines more quickly.
Scalability is a further advantage. Content can be maintained centrally and deployed across different roles, sites and shift patterns. AI-supported on-demand translation of contextual guidance significantly reduces manual translation effort — in suitable scenarios by up to 90 % — making multilingual enablement economically viable. In an NHS workforce where a substantial proportion of clinical staff are internationally trained, this is not a marginal feature. It is a practical necessity.
Contextual support in the workflow also means that new staff gain confidence in their tasks 25 to 40 % faster, while live operations remain stable.
For CIOs and digital leads, this means above all one thing: predictability.
Typical Use Cases from a CIO Perspective
Digital Adoption delivers its value where EPR projects come under pressure in practice. For CIOs and digital leads, these are rarely exceptional situations — they are recurring points in the lifecycle of any system. This is where the tts performance suite demonstrates its strength.
Go-Live and Hypercare Phase
In the first weeks after go-live, the question is whether an EPR transitions stably into operations or requires sustained reactive management. Gaps in usage confidence generate the highest volume of queries in this phase.
The tts performance suite supports staff directly within the EPR on their daily tasks. Standard questions are resolved in the workflow, without routing through the service desk or a Digital Champion. This reduces pressure on IT and the project team and shortens the period of heightened support intensity significantly.
Introduction of New EPR Modules and Functionality
New modules bring new processes. Even well-trained staff quickly reach their limits in practice when details are missing or infrequently used functions need to be applied with confidence.
Contextual guidance within the EPR accompanies new workflows step by step. Staff can use new functionality without interrupting the process or searching for external resources. For CIOs, this means faster realisation of value from system extensions, with lower support overhead.
Process Changes in Live Operations
Whether adjustments to clinical documentation, new coding requirements or revised internal standards — process changes are a constant in NHS trust operations. Without targeted support, inconsistent usage quickly follows.
The tts performance suite makes new or changed process steps immediately actionable. Guidance appears precisely where the process is executed. Changes can be introduced without slowing operations or triggering new rounds of classroom training.
Onboarding New Staff
High turnover and shift-based working make structured onboarding difficult. New staff frequently encounter a live system with limited capacity for individual support.
With the tts performance suite, a reliable orientation resource is available from day one. New colleagues gain confidence in their tasks more quickly, regardless of shift or site. For CIOs, this serves several objectives simultaneously: lower onboarding overhead, more stable processes and reduced dependency on individual knowledge holders.
Regular Releases and System Updates
Every release brings changes — even when they appear minor at first glance. Without accompanying enablement, they still generate queries and uncertainty.
Targeted guidance and updated content within the system explain changes at the point of need. Staff understand what has changed and can continue working with confidence. Operations remain stable, even as the system evolves.
These use cases illustrate a consistent principle: Digital Adoption is not a one-time project. It is a standing operational requirement. For CIOs and digital leads, it becomes manageable when support is applied systematically where work actually happens.
Implementation With Proportion: What CIOs and Digital Leads Should Consider
A Digital Adoption Platform delivers its value not through maximum feature depth, but through targeted deployment at the right points. In NHS trust operations, a pragmatic approach pays off — one that creates relief rather than adding new complexity.
A sensible starting point is concrete pain points in live operations. Processes or functions that regularly generate support requests are better candidates than a broad rollout. The value for clinical departments and IT alike becomes visible quickly.
Clear role allocation is equally important. IT retains the steering role, ensuring integration, stability and governance. Clinical departments and Digital Champions contribute their process knowledge and maintain content where it is clinically meaningful. This division of responsibility reduces dependencies and increases acceptance.
Defining clear objectives from the outset matters too. Rather than abstract expectations, measurable indicators are more useful:
- Development of EPR-related support ticket volumes,
- Time to confidence for new staff,
- Feedback from clinical departments and Digital Champions.
Finally, Digital Adoption should be understood as a continuous process. EPR systems evolve — as do NHS trusts. A solution like the tts performance suite accompanies this change in live operations. Step by step, without additional pressure.
For CIOs and digital leads, this creates an enablement approach that integrates into the working day and delivers sustained impact.
Conclusion: From Implemented EPR to Controlled Operations
An EPR is only successful when it functions reliably in daily practice. Not technically — organisationally. This is where the question is answered of whether an EPR investment delivers its intended value or continues to consume resources indefinitely.
For CIOs, CCIOs and digital leads, this means: the project does not end at go-live. It continues in operations — in the stability of processes, in the confidence of system use and in the relief of pressure on IT and clinical teams.
The tts performance suite addresses this directly. It complements the EPR with an enablement layer that supports staff in the workflow, accompanies change and makes adoption steerable. Usage is not left to chance — it is systematically secured.
The result is a shift from an implemented system to a controlled operation. And from digitisation as a project to digitisation as a reliable part of clinical practice.
FAQ: Common Questions About Digital Adoption Platforms in EPR Projects
Is a Digital Adoption Platform simply another training tool?
No. Training transfers knowledge in advance. A Digital Adoption Platform like the tts performance suite supports staff at the moment of application. The focus is not on learning, but on confidently executing tasks within the EPR. Training remains valuable — but it is complemented by performance support in the working day.
How does a Digital Adoption Platform differ from an LMS?
An LMS (Learning Management System) organises training and documents learning progress. A Digital Adoption Platform supports staff directly within the EPR during live work. While the LMS transfers knowledge, a DAP ensures that knowledge is applied confidently in practice. Both systems complement each other, but serve different purposes.
Can the value of a Digital Adoption Platform be measured?
Yes. Typical indicators include:
- Development of EPR-related support ticket volumes,
- Time to confidence for new staff,
- Usage frequency of support content.
These data points create transparency and enable targeted management.
Is deployment worthwhile if the EPR is already live?
Particularly then. Many of the most significant challenges arise in live operations — during releases, process changes or staff transitions. The tts performance suite can be deployed independently of project status and supports the sustained use of existing EPR environments.
How does the tts performance suite support NHS Frontline Digitisation and the NHS 10-Year Plan?
Enablement is a cross-cutting function. The tts performance suite supports NHS Frontline Digitisation objectives by ensuring that new digital solutions are adopted in practice and used correctly. NHS England's focus is shifting from deployment to optimisation and benefits realisation. Contextual support in the workflow is precisely the mechanism that bridges the gap between a system being in place and a system being used to its potential — turning technical implementation into operational value.
Does a DAP not increase the complexity of the system landscape?
On the contrary. Correctly deployed, it reduces complexity, because knowledge is available where it is needed. Instead of additional documents, training sessions or support calls, an integrated support layer within the EPR itself emerges. The result is a simpler, more confident experience for clinical and operational staff.
