Supporting EPR Readiness Through High-Risk Clinical Data Migration
Critical Data Archive
The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH) is the UK’s leading specialist orthopaedic hospital and a nationally recognised centre of excellence for the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of complex neuro-musculoskeletal conditions. Providing highly specialised care to patients regionally, nationally and internationally, the Trust delivers advanced orthopaedic services including acute spinal injury, complex joint reconstruction, bone tumour treatment and specialist rehabilitation. Alongside clinical delivery, RNOH plays a pivotal role in education and research, training a significant proportion of the UK’s orthopaedic surgeons and advancing musculoskeletal science in partnership with academic institutions, while operating from its Stanmore site in Middlesex and a central London outpatient facility.
As part of a wider business transformation programme, the Trust undertook a critical initiative to migrate and archive large volumes of electronic clinical and operational data ahead of system go-live of a new Electronic Patient Record hosted by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH). Recognising the complexity and risk associated with this work, RNOH selected Stalis as its data services partner to support the programme. The success of this activity was fundamental to preserving clinical safety, ensuring continuity of care and maintaining operational confidence in their data as the Trust prepared to transition to a new EPR environment.
The programme operated within a live healthcare setting, where there was no tolerance for data loss, performance degradation or post-go-live instability. Delivery required careful coordination across multiple internal and external stakeholders, including Trust teams, the EPR vendor (Epic), and the hosting organisation.
The Challenge
The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust faced several compounding challenges:
- Complex clinical datasets requiring precise handling and validation
- Tight timelines aligned to EPR readiness and go-live milestones
- Multiple delivery partners, each with distinct roles and dependencies
- High potential clinical and operational risk, where errors could impact patient care
The programme demanded a migration partner capable not only of technical delivery, but also of working collaboratively within a pressured and multi-party NHS environment.
The Stalis Approach
Stalis was engaged to support the Trust through the development and delivery phases, bringing deep experience in NHS data programmes and EPR-aligned delivery.
We’re proud to have supported the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in their successful deployment of Epic.
This milestone represents a significant step forward in digital transformation for specialist care, and we’d like to congratulate the RNOH team on their leadership, collaboration, and commitment throughout the programme.
Thank you to colleagues from RNOH, Epic and the entire Stalis team for delivering a complex programme with such focus on patient outcomes. We look forward to seeing the long-term benefits Epic will bring to clinicians and patients alike.
Kieran Hughes – Chief Executive Officer at Stalis
Key Elements of the Approach:
- Collaborative Programme Delivery – Stalis worked closely with Trust colleagues, Epic, and the host organisation to ensure alignment across all phases of the migration. This included continuous engagement, shared problem-solving, and rapid decision-making as programme complexity increased.
- Strong Technical Leadership – Senior technical leadership was embedded throughout the programme to ensure risks were identified early and managed proactively. The team provided hands-on expertise during the crucial stages of testing, validation and cutover activities.
- Resilience Under Pressure – The project presented a number of technical and programme-level challenges. Throughout these, the Stalis team maintained a consistent and solutions-focused approach, including adapting plans where required while maintaining delivery confidence.
- Focus on Quality and Assurance – Data accuracy and first-time success were treated as non-negotiable. Rigorous validation processes were applied to ensure migrated data met clinical and operational expectations ahead of go-live.
Outcomes & Results
Despite the complexity of the programme, the migration was delivered successfully, with measurable outcomes including:
- Successfully migrated 1.92 million clinical records into Epic
- Loaded 51 data files into Epic, including both initial and delta extracts
- 99.70% first-time success rate in electronic data migration
- Delivered end-to-end migration and archiving across 7 legacy systems – no post-go-live issues reported
- Led and supported 8 full testing cycles, ensuring data integrity and clinical safety
- Migration scope spanned two hospital sites: Stanmore and Bolsover
The outcome provided the Trust with confidence that clinical and operational data had been migrated safely, accurately and with minimal disruption to services.
The Trust highlighted both the technical delivery and the professionalism of the Stalis team:
“For Stalis, this was a challenging project and the team’s support remained steadfast throughout. The team worked tirelessly with colleagues in the Trust, in Epic and in the host organisation to ensure we had a very successful migration – ultimately delivering 99.70% first time success in the electronic data migration.”
Martin Tennant – Data Lead for the RNOH EHR Programme
The work delivered for The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust demonstrates Stalis’ capability to deliver complex, high-risk NHS data migrations with precision, resilience and assurance. Through consistent communication, responsive post-go-live support and close collaboration across Trust, vendor and delivery partners, Stalis enabled a seamless and issue-free transition into live operation. With a 99.70% first-time migration success rate and no post-go-live issues, the programme evidences not only technical excellence but calm, trusted leadership under pressure, underpinning the Trust’s 10/10 rating.