From Siloed Care to Seamless Care: How Access Group is Reimagining Integrated Care

The discussion touched on key topics ranging from silos and data sharing to the power of ethical AI in improving both patient experiences and clinical efficiency. It also offered a look at how The Access Group is reimagining its well-regarded and long-standing Rio EPR software and working with organisations across the UK, including with social care and health providers in Wales, to better join up care.

Below are the highlights of the conversation, including some exciting updates and upcoming innovations from Access, along with the valuable insights Alan provides to help health and social care organisations deliver more connected, person-centred care.

Despite years of investment in digital health systems, many services still struggle with disconnected workflows and fragmented data. Those who need care often move between hospitals, mental health services and community care, yet their records don’t move with them. This slows down decisions and creates unnecessary friction for both clinicians and the people they care for.

The Access Group’s vision is to change that and bring the focus back to the person and their care journey. We’re putting an end to siloed services and delivering a person-centred approach to integrated care.

"People don’t experience care in silos," explained Alan Payne during the discussion. "They move between services, and if data doesn’t move with them, vital information is lost. Our focus is on making that journey connected and intuitive. Think of this as rotating care 90 degrees where data flows with the patient as they move across silos of care."

Central to this vision is the Master Patient Index (MPI) and a common data model, both of which collectively ensure data consistency and interoperability across health and social care systems. Access has extended HL7 standards and SNOMED coding into social care, creating a unified data model that enables real-time decision-making—whether in acute hospitals, community mental health teams, or domiciliary care services.

With data-sharing agreements already in place in regions like North East London and Wales, Access is helping organisations move beyond fragmented systems and towards seamless, digitally enabled integrated care pathways.

Rio EPR has been a trusted platform for community and mental health services for over two decades. But as technology and user expectations evolved, so too did the need for a transformation. That’s where Rio Reimagined comes in—a rethinking of the Rio experience that places users at the centre.

Cognizant, which helps re-platform patient administrative systems (PAS) in the UK and collaborates closely with the NHS, is the Access Group’s technology partner in the Rio transformation programme.

Working directly with clinicians, carers and service users, the team at Access is looking to redesign Rio around three key principles:

• Intuitive design, with no more than three clicks or touches to complete core tasks.
• Mobile-first and responsive, designed for smartphones and tablets at the point of care.
• Offline and online capability, ensuring functionality in locations with limited connectivity—such as rural areas or older mental health facilities.

One standout feature is Smart Notes, an AI-driven dictation tool that reduces the time it takes to create clinical notes by up to 40% while improving accuracy and ensuring information is captured in real time.

"This is about giving time back to clinicians," Alan noted. "With Smart Notes, documentation happens during the consultation—not at the end of a long day when things can be missed."

A key engineering achievement behind Rio Reimagined is its backward compatibility. Organisations will soon be able to deploy the new interface without migrating their data or disrupting existing workflows. Both the old Rio and Rio Reimagined will share the same database, allowing teams to adopt the new experience at their own pace.

Access’s work in Wales offers a compelling example of what’s possible when people, systems and processes all collaborate. As Wales moves away from legacy systems, the region has embraced early engagement and their existing proactive data-sharing agreements to accelerate implementation.

Alan shared how clear governance, robust data conversion tools and a collaborative approach have helped remove barriers. The Welsh teams’ openness and willingness to explore the art of the possible has made them a model for how health and social care services can work together more effectively on both a local and a national scale.

"By having those conversations ahead of time, we’ve been able to streamline implementation and take advantage of pre-existing data-sharing frameworks," Alan explained. "It’s made a real difference."

The success in Wales demonstrates how data integration and collaborative partnerships can lay the groundwork for joined-up care, offering lessons that can be applied across the UK.

Artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in transforming care—both for the people receiving it and the professionals delivering it.

For patients, AI enables:

• Hyper-personalised care through emerging concepts like digital twins.
• More context-aware, tailored communications, improving engagement and outcomes.
• Faster access to the right care by supporting clinicians with real-time insights.

For care professionals, AI reduces time spent on repetitive tasks and improves decision-making:

• Smart Notes reduces documentation time, freeing up clinicians to focus on care.
• AI-driven test automation, developed through The Access Group and Cognizant’s collaboration, accelerates software testing and deployment.
• One NHS customer has already saved £800,000 annually by adopting automated testing—reducing the need for manual testing by clinicians and speeding up software adoption.

"It’s not just about efficiency—it’s about giving teams confidence in the systems they rely on," Alan said.

"With AI embedded across Access’s solutions, there’s huge potential to streamline processes and improve the working lives of clinicians, carers and social care professionals."

At Rewired 2025, one thing was clear: integrated care is no longer just an aspiration—it’s happening now, at every level across health and social care. With the recent announcement of NHS England’s abolition, the drive toward integration and digital transformation has become an urgent priority. Joining up services, supporting the workforce, and delivering cost efficiencies are no longer optional—they're essential for creating a more sustainable, person-centred system.

With the launch of Rio Reimagined, our sophisticated AI-powered tools like Evo and Access Intelligent Care Platform (AICP), and a commitment to collaborative partnership, Access Group is making it easier for organisations to deliver high-quality, joined-up care that makes a genuine difference to everyone involved.

The focus is on reducing friction at every point of the care journey, whether that’s data sharing, user experience or decision support.

"We’re enabling better care through better technology, reducing friction in care delivery" Alan concluded. "And that’s what drives everything we do."