News & Blog

Landmark Savings Achieved by the YHCR in South Yorkshire

The Yorkshire and Humber Care Record (YHCR) in South Yorkshire has recorded an estimated £1 million in savings in the current financial year across the health and care sector.

At a time of heightened pressure on public sector finances, the savings show the potential benefits of encouraging more staff across partner organisations to use the shared care record platform.

The estimated savings are based on the benefits being realised by partner organisations, which include a reduction in the time spent:

• By Trust staff using transfer of care data to admit people in emergency departments
• By local authority staff in sourcing client information from GPs and Trusts
• By staff in NHS settings sourcing patient information.

Savings have also been realised by phasing out support from 1 April 2025 for the integrated Doncaster Care Record which duplicated some of the features of the YHCR. The Rotherham Health Record will also be phased out in spring/summer 2026 as the region moves towards having just one shared care record platform.

The estimated £1m savings created by the YHCR equate to approximately 32,753 hours of staff time. As more and more colleagues begin using the YHCR, projections show that it could achieve £23m savings (non-cash releasing benefits) over the next five years.

Katie Dowson, South Yorkshire Shared Care Record (SYSCR) Programme Director, said: “It is very pleasing to see the impact of adoption of the YHCR in the region and this is thanks in large part to the buy-in of partners who have worked with the programme team to drive up its adoption in their organisations. Trusts like Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals and Barnsley Hospital and many others have been very supportive in furthering the roll-out of the YHCR. We look forward to continuing to work with health and care teams across the region to ensure patients and staff get the maximum benefits possible.”