People may grumble about how digitalisation in healthcare lags behind that of other sectors, such as finance or retail, but the truth is that it faces unique challenges that contribute to slower adoption and scaling, such as its fragmentation, legacy infrastructure, data governance complexities, and concerns about patient privacy.
Nordic Global is a healthcare technology consultancy company. Its VP of strategy for Northern Europe and country manager for Ireland, Claire Staple, explains that it offers specialised support to organisations who are going through complex digital transformation.
Compared to its neighbours, Northern Ireland and Britain, Ireland is a laggard when it comes to a truly digital health service, one that encompasses an electronic health record (EHR). But the recent Government endorsement of the procurement for a vendor that will enable the national roll-out of an EHR shows that there is finally momentum – and investment – behind this long overdue initiative.
Although Nordic is a global company, it has only been operating in Ireland since 2023. Staple says the benefit of its global reach is that it can bring invaluable expertise and learnings from other countries as Ireland finally begins to grasp the nettle on EHRs.
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“We want to help healthcare organisations solve the problems and the challenges that they have so that they can focus on caring.”
Staple worked on the procurement and implementation of Encompass, the programme for digital care records in Northern Ireland, for several years. She has witnessed first-hand the direct benefits that digitalisation can bring.
“I am sitting here in Belfast and I can access my own records via the patient portal. I can view my hospital appointments, I get reminders, I can update my new personal details, my medication details, and I get after-visit summaries,” she explains. “Having all of that information on my phone, the same way we have so much information in relation to many other aspects of our lives at our fingertips, is a game changer.”
It not only allows much greater efficiency from an operational perspective but is invaluable in terms of patient empowerment, she says. “If you’ve got a chronic condition, you can effectively help manage your own care, look at your test results, see trends and talk to your care providers about what that might mean.
“And the common frustrations that we all face in our interactions with the healthcare system, whether it’s missing appointments because the letter didn’t arrive in time, or having to wait at reception to check-in, or repeat your story multiple times to multiple different caregivers, much of that can be alleviated with digital technologies. It means a much more positive patient experience and focus on your immediate care needs.”
And the benefits aren’t just confined to the patient experience: Staple explains that Nordic worked alongside a healthcare provider in Canada to introduce what she calls a “digital front door” strategy.
The strategy focuses on enabling patient‑facing digital services that improve timely and convenient access to care, with initial offerings such as navigation support, callback and self‑referral options, and appointment reminders.
“They are facing the same challenges that we are experiencing in the UK and Ireland, such as rising patient demands, staff and equipment capacity, pressures to reduce waiting times and emergency department overcrowding,” she says.
“The digital front door strategy is supporting people in navigating access to care more effectively and in finding appropriate, accessible services they may not have been aware of, rather than defaulting to the emergency department. These changes streamline access pathways and help people get to the right care more quickly, reducing wait times and improving patient experience.”
Digitalisation also introduces new levels of patient safety, such as with a closed loop medication system. “We are also working with clients to automate their EHR services, such as the administration of prescription medications via the hospital pharmacy, which is often still a manual process. The new, automated processes are not only streamlined, but also safer because they reduce the risk of the wrong medication or wrong dose being given because everything is verified electronically and there is a clear audit trail.”
While patients are demanding access to their own care records, this is tempered by natural concerns about the privacy of their highly sensitive data. As the health service becomes increasingly digitalised, Staple says patient education will be key.
“At Nordic, we can bring experience from elsewhere in the world to show that this can be done in a safe and collaborative way and that there are checks and balances that can be put in place to ensure that your information is safe and accessible, at the right time, to the clinicians you need to see.”
Grasping the nettle on EHRs requires health systems to commit to change that is ambitious, disciplined and grounded in operational reality. The organisations making progress are those that recognise EHR modernisation as a long‑term journey that demands experience, resilience, and a partner who understands both the technology and the complexity of healthcare delivery.
Nordic supports organisations at every stage of this journey, bringing hard‑won lessons from delivering EHR and digital transformation programmes in real clinical environments. By combining strategic insight with practical execution, Nordic helps health services confront complexity with confidence by turning EHR modernisation from a recurring challenge into a platform for sustained improvement, innovation, and better care outcomes across the system.
