Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 19.08.2025 Altera are proud to be a finalist in the UK Business Tech Awards 2025 for Health Tech Company of the Year. As a prominent provider of healthcare IT solutions and services, they are actively reshaping the way the NHS operates through Altera Digital Health’s emphasis on innovation, fast deployment, cost-effectiveness and exceptional client satisfaction.
With a proven track record of working with numerous trusts in the UK, as well as hospital groups globally, Altera deliver healthcare IT systems that improve both patient and operational outcomes. From electronic patient records (EPRs) and patient administration systems (PAS) to interoperability/health information exchange platforms and patient flow systems, thier comprehensive solutions are designed to enhance operational efficiency, improve patient care standards and facilitate the effective digital transformation of the NHS.
Let’s take a deeper look into the world of Altera Digital Health and hear from them about how their innovative approach is transforming the UK’s healthcare landscape.
Success stories
Our unwavering commitment to digital excellence has propelled our NHS clients towards significant milestones in digital maturity. Altera’s Sunrise™ EPR has supported Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s (LHCH) digital transformation, enabling the trust to receive an ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating twice and achieve HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7. This validation demonstrates they are meeting the highest international health tech standards and is one of very few NHS trusts to achieve this level of digital maturity.
Recent achievements
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a trust which nearly five years ago had a low digital maturity rating for a trust its size, is fast following in LHCH’s tracks. Using Altera’s Sunrise EPR, the trust is now aiming for HIMSS Stage 6.
Altera’s EPR system went live at a new hospital acquired by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust from private provider Spire Healthcare. The long-standing client expanded its use to the new facility to enhance clinical services and provide additional NHS capacity across the region. The rollout took just six months.
What we’re proud of
Each of our clients is using technology to reduce risk, improve efficiency and deliver quality care. For example, LHCH is now 99.9% paperless, with all clinical documentation, order communications and prescribing completed digitally through Altera’s Sunrise EPR system. Since introducing medicine management scanning functionality, the trust has seen a 55% reduction in medication administration errors and improved patient safety by more than 50%, while also making major administrative time savings.
Gloucestershire Hospitals’ recent go-live with Altera’s Knowledge-based Medication Administration system is enabling users to positively identify patients and validate medicines at the point of drug administration using barcode technology. In the first week of going live, 14,315 patient scans were recorded and 66,335 medications were scanned.
“I’ve been out on the wards following each go-live and patients clearly recognise the importance of ensuring patient identification while administering medications. They also appreciate the steps we are taking to verify medications. On some wards, we have patients who receive multiple different medications and the process of assembling those together with ensuring you’ve got the right strength and dose all comes under the ethos of the Scan4Safety initiative.” – Matt Little, CNIO at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Navigating the path to digital maturity
The NHS has set a mandate for NHS trusts to have an EPR by March 2026 and we are committed to supporting trusts to meet the deadline and increase digital maturity across the health system. This work has been against a backdrop of a burdened system with high waiting lists and the need for smarter and more sustainable digital transformation approaches to release vital efficiencies and cost savings.
Our unique approach
Our alternative EPR and digital maturity approach that is fast, flexible and modular to balance immediate transformation needs with long-term financial viability.
With Altera’s Sunrise EPR, NHS trusts can take a phased approach to implementation. They can start with core functionalities that address their most urgent needs. If they choose, they can start with clinical functionality that improves the safety and reliability of patient care. These trusts can then expand to other areas such as electronic prescribing and virtual wards as clinical groups across the organisation see the benefits it has delivered for their colleagues.
This phased approach spreads costs out over time and minimises disruption to healthcare services during the transition. Examples of how this phased approach to implementation can deliver high levels of digital maturity and clinical buy-in can be seen at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust.
What makes us different?
Altera offers solutions that are not only cost-effective but also flexible and adaptable, to enable incremental functionality to be added as both requirements and resources evolve. Its solutions have led to significant cost savings for NHS trusts, contributing to the sustainability of the healthcare system in the UK.
Altera excels in swift deployment, facilitating NHS trusts to reap the benefits of their solutions within a matter of months. Our collaborative approach ensures seamless implementation, empowering clinical teams to harness technology for improved patient care efficiently.
To learn more about how Altera are making a difference for NHS trusts across the UK, please see here.
