NHSE ‘tiger teams’ deployed to support tech rollouts

The successful bidder will be responsible for creating an “experienced, multi-skilled, rapid response intervention service” which will support the delivery of EPRs in NHS trusts, according to a future opportunity notice posted on the government’s ”find a tender” website.

The service will be part of NHSE’s Frontline Digitisation programme, which has been set a target of 100 per cent EPR coverage in all NHS trusts by March 2026. It will come in addition to the existing support offer provided by the programme.

HSJ first reported last year that the original target of 100 per cent EPR coverage by March 2025 had been deemed “unachievable” after £700m was cut from the Frontline Digitisation programme budget.

As of November 2023, 90 per cent of NHS trusts had a working EPR in place.

Additional information provided in the tender notice stated that EPRs are “notoriously complex to implement” due to the varied maturity of the digital, data and technology workforce across England. Several trusts and systems have run into major problems with EPR installations in recent years, including safety incidents, performance and data problems, such as the installation of a Millennium system in Surrey  in mid-2022.

The tender notice said: “Trusts are finding it increasingly challenging to obtain good quality, skilled short-term resources, both from the recruitment and contingent labour market.

“To support trusts to alleviate this issue, this service will provide Tiger Teams, defined as a group of highly skilled, experienced resources, commissioned to deliver a time-boxed service on behalf of the trust where other attempts to fulfil the requirement have been unsuccessful.”

The notice added that the new service is needed as the Frontline Digitisation programme is “not resourced to provide hands-on targeted support into trusts at the scale required”.

A contract award notice is expected to be published in March 2024.