Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust adopts AI-enabled decision support
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) has implemented UpToDate Enterprise Edition across its services, supporting teams at King George Hospital in Goodmayes and Queen's Hospital in Romford. The move gives consultants, junior doctors, and medical students instant access to evidence-based guidance at the point of care.
The Trust is recognized for neuroscience, stroke care, and maternity services. This implementation strengthens day-to-day decision-making and supports consistent clinical standards across departments and sites.
What's changing on the ward and in clinic
- Evidence-based answers, fast: UpToDate delivers vetted clinical content at the bedside or desktop.
- AI-Enhanced Search: Clinicians can use natural language queries to surface relevant, verbatim answers from UpToDate content-cutting search time when decisions are time-sensitive.
- Consistent care: Shared guidance reduces variation across teams and locations.
- Education built-in: Supports continuous medical education for the whole workforce.
"UpToDate Enterprise Edition supports more consistent, appropriate decision-making for our clinical teams and helps us to reduce variations in the care we provide, ultimately improving the experience for our patients," said Anthony Lovell, Head of Undergraduate Medical Education and NHSE Quality Lead. "It's also reassuring to know it's built on peer-reviewed clinical expertise-not untested AI. It's an investment in improving quality and clinical outcomes across our services."
Why this matters for patients and operations
- Reduced variation: Shared, evidence-based guidance supports safer, more predictable pathways.
- Better flow and efficiency: An AI-powered analytics dashboard highlights usage patterns to inform training, guideline adoption, and service improvement.
- Population health and CME: Insights from usage data can point to gaps in knowledge and support targeted education.
Christian Cella, Vice President and General Manager, International segment, at Wolters Kluwer Health, commented: "We're proud to support Barking, Havering and Redbridge - NHS Trust in their mission to deliver high-quality, evidence-based care-from King George Hospital in Goodmayes to Queen's Hospital in Romford. UpToDate Enterprise Edition is designed to meet the needs of BHRUT's modern healthcare teams-combining trusted clinical content with AI-powered tools that enhance decision-making, education, and operational efficiency."
Part of BHRUT's digital strategy
The rollout supports the Trust's broader digital priorities: improve patient care, support staff wellbeing, and use AI responsibly. It gives clinicians reliable, peer-reviewed content while offering analytics leaders actionable data for service improvement.
For more on the solution, see UpToDate from Wolters Kluwer Health: wolterskluwer.com/UpToDate.
Practical next steps for clinical teams
- Access and onboarding: Ensure all roles (consultants to medical students) have accounts and mobile access; schedule quick walk-throughs during handovers or teaching sessions.
- Embed in workflow: Use UpToDate during ward rounds, MDTs, and on-call decision points; bookmark high-use topics and local pathways.
- Governance and training: Set expectations on when to consult guidance; review analytics to spot training needs and address variation.
- Education credits: Encourage use for CME where applicable and track completion to support appraisal and revalidation.
If your teams are building AI literacy alongside clinical tools, you can explore structured options here: AI courses by job.
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