Connected care, driven by digital transformation and the integration of electronic health records (EHRs), is reshaping healthcare delivery across Australia, the UK, and Europe. A key focus is on interoperability, patient-centric models, and infection control, with policy and technological advancements accelerating these trends.
Universal EHR Adoption: The Journey To Date
Universal adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is a cornerstone of connected care, enabling seamless data flow, interoperability, and enhanced infection control. Across Australia, the UK, and Europe, policy mandates and technological innovation are accelerating the integration of EHRs, transforming healthcare delivery into a more patient-centric, efficient, and safe system.
United Kingdom: NHS Universal EHR Rollout
The NHS aims for universal EHR implementation across all hospitals and community practices by 2025, supported by substantial government investment.
By March 2025, 96% of NHS trusts are expected to have implemented an EHR, with 70% meeting the standards required for core digitisation. The Frontline Digitisation programme is driving this transformation, ensuring not just patient ownership of data and coverage but also functional adequacy for medication management, e-prescribing, and appointment handling, and a centralisation of data sets which span 7,000 data handlers across the complex NHS system.
EHR integration is pivotal for streamlining workflows, reducing manual administrative tasks, and enabling rapid access to patient data. Digital platforms like the NHS App further support this by providing patients and clinicians with real-time access to health information, appointment management, and communication tools.
Linked EHRs automate healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) reporting, improving accuracy, supporting real-time surveillance, and freeing clinical staff to focus on patient care. Digital platforms are increasingly used for infection surveillance and public health interventions, strengthening the NHS’s response to emerging threats.
Australia: Digital Health Transformation and EHR Integration
Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy and Digital Health Blueprint 2023–2033 place EHR interoperability at the centre of healthcare reform. The Council for Connected Care leads efforts to ensure seamless data sharing and system-wide integration.
Legislation now requires healthcare providers to upload key health information, such as pathology and diagnostic imaging reports, to My Health Record by default. This ensures comprehensive, real-time access for both patients and providers, supporting coordinated care and reducing duplication.
Automated uploads of test results to My Health Record enhance infection surveillance, enable timely interventions, and reduce unnecessary repeat testing. New South Wales is updating standards to ensure uniform, high-quality infection prevention and record keeping across the state.
Europe: Cross-Border Interoperability and Infection Control
The European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation (2025/327) establishes a unified framework for electronic health data access, management, and sharing across EU member states. This supports both primary care and secondary uses like research and public health.
The i2X project is developing a common EHR format, facilitating cross-border data exchange and supporting continuity of care and infection control at scale.
The rapid expansion of telecare and telehealth, combined with mobile and remote patient monitoring solutions, is unlocking new data-driven approaches to infection prevention and chronic disease management throughout Europe.
A well-documented reference for the rapid expansion of telecare, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring in Europe, and their role in advancing data-driven infection prevention and chronic disease management, is the RENEWING HeALTH project. This large-scale initiative, funded by the European Commission, implemented and evaluated innovative telemedicine solutions for chronic diseases (including diabetes, COPD, and cardiovascular conditions) across nine European regions. The project involved about 7,000 patients and was, at the time, the largest randomised controlled trial of telemedicine in Europe. Its results demonstrated how telehealth and remote monitoring empower patients in managing their conditions while optimising healthcare resource use and supporting preventive care.
Additionally, the Europe Connected Care Market Report 2025 highlights that the number of telecare and telehealth users in the EU reached 13.1 million at the end of 2023, with strong growth projected. Telehealth solutions—encompassing remote monitoring for chronic conditions such as COPD, heart failure, and diabetes—are entering a growth phase, driven by the need for efficient, data-driven care delivery. The report notes that future caregiving will increasingly rely on continuous data analysis from telecare devices and other sources (like smart home sensors and EHRs), with AI playing a growing role in infection prevention and chronic disease management.
Finally, the WHO developed the International Patient Summary has been developed as a minimal and non-exhaustive set of basic clinical data of a patient, specialty-agnostic, condition-independent, but readily usable by all clinicians for the unscheduled (cross-border) patient care.
Across Australia, the UK, and Europe, connected care is rapidly advancing through the integration of electronic health records, improved interoperability, and a focus on infection control. Legislative mandates, technological innovation, and cross-border collaboration are enabling more efficient, safer, and patient-centred healthcare systems.
