Delays to a joint electronic patient record (EPR) programme at South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust and George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust could cost around £1 million a month.

The 18-month Oracle EPR programme, which began in May 2025, has fallen behind in the ‘localisation phase’, in which the core system and its workflows are tailored to meet the specific needs of the trust.

A board paper, published in October 2025, says that the programme has “very limited contingency time” with delays estimated to cost £1m per month.

“Should we not meet the October 2026 target go-live, the trusts would struggle to take the EPR live beyond November 2025, which could see up to six months of delay,” the board paper adds.

The trusts have been running sessions to review the current EPR system and workflows to assess the impact on trust processes, as well as potential clinical and operational risks.

However, the boards said that these are behind schedule and at risk of delaying the overall timeline, partially due to challenges in releasing staff from operational duties to attend the sessions.

Also the trusts said that they had received “limited support” from University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW), which went live with an Oracle EPR in June 2024.

It adds that UHCW’s support is “essential due to their expertise with the single instance Oracle Health EPR platform”.

“UHCW have been engaged on the risks to the programme due to their lack of support and an escalation has taken place with their chief digital information officer.

“The relationship with UHCW remains good and we are working in partnership to mitigate issues and prioritise use of their resources,” the board paper says.

It adds that NHS England has been informed about the “significant financial impact of any delay”.

In response, a spokesperson for UHCW told Digital Health News: “UHCW continues to deliver its support to George Eliot Hospital and South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust on their EPR programme, which will have a significant impact on our patients and enhance our ability to deliver more seamless, joined-up care.”

Robin Snead, chief digital officer at SWFT and GEH, told Digital Health News: “The EPR implementation is progressing as planned and will enable improved, efficient and safer care for patients.

“We continue to work collaboratively with all partners involved in this joint project.”

The boards of SWFT and GEH reported that there are ongoing discussions around using NHS tiger teams to help mitigate programme risks across work streams such as transformation, data migrations and reporting.

NHS England awarded a tiger teams contract worth £13.3 million to consultancy firm KPMG to support trusts unlikely to meet the March 2026 EPR target under the frontline digitisation programme.

Meanwhile, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust both faced delays to their Oracle EPR programmes which led their planned go-live dates being postponed.

Digital Health News contacted Oracle for comment.