Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) — the United Kingdom’s largest NHS Foundation Trust — serves a Greater Manchester population of more than 2.8 million and was created through a merger of a number of existing foundation trusts.

Managing accurate and consistent patient information across the vast 11-hospital MFT trust was a huge challenge. Information was spread across numerous patient administration and electronic patient record (EPR) systems, as well as multiple document management systems, and was further complicated by a host of other clinical applications.

MFT launched its Hive program to transform continuity of care through digital innovation.

A key component of what MFT needed for Hive was a centralized enterprise EPR and document management solution to unify patient records within its EPR workflow, ensuring clinicians had real-time access to critical information whenever and wherever it was needed.

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MFT implemented the Epic EPR system and integrated it with Hyland’s OnBase enterprise content management solution in the cloud. The combined solution provides a single, centralized source of patient information across the trust.

The transition wasn’t only about digitizing medical records; it was about creating a holistic system to integrate clinical documentation, enhance workflows and enable faster, safer clinical decision-making.

“One of the great things about having our centralized EPR is that the entire trust is following the same business process flow, and the standardization drives efficiencies and, as a result, improved patient care,” IT Applications Manager Martin Hobson said. “OnBase is part of this holistic delivery of healthcare, touching acute hospitals and community care across the MFT trust.”

Key features of the OnBase implementation included:

• Centralized access to patient medical records, images and clinical documentation across all sites and departments

• Real-time integration with the Epic EPR, which streamlines workflows and eliminates data silos

• Configurable solutions tailored to the specific needs of clinicians and technical teams, ensuring optimal utilization

OnBase has truly transformed how MFT delivers patient care. With a centralized patient record in place, clinicians have immediate access to the latest documentation, reducing delays and enhancing efficiency.

Improved efficiency and safety

When staff across departments work from a single, standardized process, inefficiencies are reduced and patient care is significantly improved. This standardization ensures that patients move through their care pathways faster — from admission to discharge.

“Having that single medical record approach is key to making sure that the patient care pathway is as efficient as possible,” Hobson said.

Optimized MDT meetings

By providing seamless access to all patient information, the Epic EPR and OnBase systems allow specialists in a multidisciplinary team (MDT) setting to make informed decisions during the meeting as all relevant information is available, saving time and maximizing the impact of these high-value clinical discussions.

“At any point during a multidisciplinary team meeting for a particular patient’s complex care needs, there can be a number of specialists involved. Bringing all of that patient information together in the Epic EPR and OnBase solution has been transformative because any department in the trust can see a patient’s record and any documents or images that are associated with them,” Hobson said.

Enhanced usability for teams

Beyond being an enterprise content management solution, OnBase provides robust data manipulation and process management capabilities.

“OnBase goes beyond simple data storage, data manipulation, documentation and indexing,” MFT Senior Analyst Rylan Ashbourne said. “It presents different views that enable clerical, technical and other teams to interact with the application on a much higher and fine-tuned level than we did previously.”

This benefits the Digital Services and Medical Records teams, empowering them to work smarter and more effectively.

“I have worked with other enterprise document management systems, and OnBase provides improved customizability and the ability to leverage data, knowledge and process management to get more out of the OnBase solution,” Hobson said.

MFT’s success with OnBase demonstrates how digital transformation can fundamentally enhance healthcare delivery by merging technology within clinical workflows. Moving forward, the trust plans to expand its use of OnBase to further optimize patient care, enhance data accessibility and support its commitment to continuous improvement.

For example, MFT is “working on standardizing and managing transplant triage and workflow for our trust, so the triage teams can benefit from improvements and efficiencies in the transplant patient transfer process,” Hobson said.

The Digital Services team is also keen to explore how the Hyland Content Innovation Cloud™, API agents and AI systems can extend process automation, enable application development and rapidly accelerate intelligence to drive faster decision-making.

Hyland continues to be a vital partner for MFT, supporting its strategic vision of transforming how the trust works and cares for its patients, staff and the wider population to reimagine healthcare delivery.