Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72364 on Electronic Patient Records, what level on the HIMMS scale will Hinchingbrooke Hospital be required to achieve before completion as part of the New Hospital Programme.

The New Hospital Programme (NHP) and the Frontline Productivity Programmes do not use the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) grading system. When frontline digitisation began, it was broadly looking to align capabilities of new electronic patient record (EPR) systems to HIMSS level 5, out of 7, but this is only a broad correlation.

Hinchingbrooke Hospital is part of North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which is currently part way through the business case process for a new EPR. Hinchingbrooke has also recently submitted its strategic outline case for their new hospital as part of the New Hospitals Programme, which is due for consideration this month.

The level of digital maturity that is required of hospitals in the NHP has been carefully assessed. All NHP sites will be required to deliver core capabilities in their digital systems which will enable the new hospitals to deliver modern, digitally enabled care.