As a result of the Trust’s acquisitions, the number of IT systems and digital platforms in use across the organisation has increased significantly, with some duplication. This has created an IT environment that is extremely complex to maintain and support, and in some cases has caused difficulty in accessing information in a timely manner and sharing information between services.
A significant programme of work is well underway to harmonise the clinical systems in use across the Trust, with plans to consolidate, where there are multiple versions of the same system in use.
Rio Downtime - Wednesday 10 June 2026 from 10pm
The Rio Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system will be unavailable from 10pm on Wednesday 10 June 2026 for essential maintenance which is expected to last approximately 5 hours. During this time Rio will not be accessible. Find out more about what you need to do and business continuity arrangements in place while the system is unavailable.
During downtime
It is essential that you have saved your work and logged out of Rio before 10.00 pm on Wednesday 10 June. Any users still logged in will be automatically logged off, which could result in lost work.
During the downtime the system will be unavailable for use. Please record any patient information/activity on paper for entry into Rio once the system is available.
Planned admissions
If you are aware of any planned admissions to wards during the downtime period, please review your patient history prior to the system being taken offline and print and prepare admission assessments as required.
However, if you require any documentation that precedes this then this must be printed in advance of the planned downtime.
EPMA
Any new inpatient admissions or bed moves during the period of downtime need to be completed manually on EPMA
NEWS2
All wards and teams using NEWS2 should have a stock of paper forms. Any paper NEWS2 charts used can then be scanned into Rio using the naming convention NEWS2 chart. As soon as the system is available, electronic NEWS2 forms must be completed for those who have scored 3 in a single parameter or a total of 5 or more, and added to the electronic form. No other retrospective recording is required.
Supportive Observations
Any wards using Supportive Observations on Rio will need to record on paper.
Beacon – the business continuity solution
Beacon is a read-only business continuity solution that has been built for use whilst Rio is unavailable.
The tool will provide access to essential patient information to allow services to continue to function without a clinical system. It is not intended to provide the full electronic patient record or replace the functionalities found within Rio. Beacon will hold the past 3 months clinical documentation and progress notes.
Beacon will be made available for use during the period of downtime.
The link to the Beacon application will be sent out within an IT Service Desk notification before the downtime.
The Beacon App online learning course is available on IM Online Learning and can be located within the Online Learning Catalogue under Mental Health / Secure Care > Beacon.
This online learning course demonstrates how to Navigate the Beacon App, Search for and Access, Patient Information, Access HCP and Team Appointments, Access Team Caseloads, Access Legacy View Information and Access Ward Information.
The course should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions or require any further information please contact System