Five Years of the GM Care Record: Reflection and Celebration
By Dr Gareth Thomas, Clinical Director Digital and Data Products, Health Innovation Manchester & NHS Greater Manchester and
Cara Afzal, Programme Director Digital and Data, Health innovation Manchester
Five years ago, Greater Manchester embarked on a bold journey to transform care through shared data. The GM Care Record (GMCR) was launched as a region-wide digital shared care record, designed to enhance direct care, enable innovation, and unite health and social care professionals around a single, integrated view of patient information. Today, the GMCR stands as a testament to what can be achieved through collaboration, vision, and relentless commitment to improving outcomes for our 3 million citizens – delivered through combined working across Health Innovation Manchester, NHS Greater Manchester, citizen representatives, charities and provider organisations.
Growing awareness and adoption
Since its inception, the GMCR has seen remarkable growth in both awareness and adoption. In November 2025, record levels of use were achieved with over 440,000 patient records accessed by 27.5k distinct users.
The GMCR is now embedded in daily clinical practice in many organisations across primary care, secondary care, mental health, community trusts, social care, and out of hours services. Its reach continues to expand, with 31% of community pharmacies now live with access, and ongoing efforts to onboard more providers. Engagement has been a cornerstone of this success: in 2025 alone, our clinical engagement team attended over 85 meetings with system and locality groups, building clinical champions and driving uptake in adoption.
Feedback from frontline staff is unequivocal:
Product developments: innovation in action
The GMCR is continually evolving to meet the needs of GM residents and clinicians. Over the last five years, the GMCR has grown from functioning as a data repository into a comprehensive platform that actively supports integrated care, enables real-time clinical decision-making, and drives innovation across Greater Manchester’s health and social care system.
Explore the journey
Tap each year below to uncover the milestones and innovations that have shaped our progress.
- Launched at pace during the Covid-19 pandemic, the GMCR unified fragmented health and care records, enabling clinicians to make safer, faster decisions at the frontline.
- Public engagement campaigns and a dedicated website helped inform citizens about the GMCR and its benefits.
- GM Digital Strategy launched, with the GMCR as an integral component of this
- GMCR optimisation plan scoped; delivery starts alongside tracking of impact and ROI
- SMASH Medication Dashboard launch – improving prescription safety and reducing patient risk for 3 million people
- Integration with REMORA app to support patients with Arthritis
- BRIT2 programme to monitor anti-biotic prescribing in GP practices
- Pre-eclampsia support using the My GM Care app
- Public advertising on every tram and public transport interchange in Greater Manchester
- Integrated care planning: Dementia Wellbeing, Heart Failure proof of value programmes and GMCR EPaCCS roll out
- My GM Care app proof of value launch
- Community Pharmacy access programme begins
- 3 award wins for GMCR programme with HTN Now and HSJ Patient Safety
- Landmark over 300k patient record views per month
- GMCR EPaCCS roll out and toolkit with over 16,000 care plans active in 12 months
- Clinical engagement campaign
- GMCR V4 upgrade launch
- PACS Viewer integration, enabling instant access to radiology images within the GMCR, streamlining diagnostics and care coordination.
- Community Data Feeds optimisation across Greater Manchester
- over 440,000 patient record views per month by 27,500 unique users
- Public website on the GMCR viewed by over 150k members of the public
The GMCR’s impact has been transformative
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- Over 27,500 professionals across Greater Manchester now access the GMCR each month, viewing more than 440,000 patient records
- Over 16,000 EPaCCS (Electronic Palliative Care Coordination System) plans have been published
- Estimated £16 million 2024/25 in productivity benefits, due to time saved by clinicians.
Collaboration at the heart of success
The GMCR is the product of deep collaboration between NHS Greater Manchester, the ten GM localities, Health Innovation Manchester, and technology provider Graphnet. This partnership continues to drive innovation and integration.
Clinical engagement is ongoing, with recruitment of local clinical champions and tailored training from the GMCR Product team to ensure ease of access from local electronic patient record systems. The GMCR is now the “go-to tool for safe care,” supporting continuity, reducing duplication, and strengthening communication between health and care professionals.
Most importantly, the public and patients have helped shaped its development, with extensive engagement across the communities of Greater Manchester to understand how and when they would like their data in the GMCR to be accessed and shared, particularly in terms of research. This has been supported by widespread communications and advertising to drive public awareness of the GMCR over the last five years.
Looking ahead
As we celebrate five years of the GM Care Record, the journey is far from over. The next phase will focus on:
- Continued scaling up new models of care, ensuring EPaCCS advanced care planning is embedded across Greater Manchester.
- Continued engagement and frontline training to drive usage of the GMCR and maximise benefits.
- Further roll out of the GMCR into primary care settings – including increased community pharmacy adoption of GMCR to support new models neighbourhood-based of care.
The GMCR stands as a national exemplar of how shared care records can transform care delivery. With strong partnerships, cutting-edge technology, and measurable benefits to clinicians and patients alike, Greater Manchester is unlocking the power of data to deliver safer, more personalised, and more efficient care.
“The GM Care Record is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together across Greater Manchester. Over the past five years, we’ve moved from simply sharing data to truly transforming care, making information available when and where it’s needed, empowering clinicians, and putting patients at the heart of decision making. Our journey is far from over, and I’m excited to see how the GMCR will continue to evolve, driving innovation and improving outcomes for all of us in Greater Manchester.”
Gareth Thomas
“I am incredibly proud of what the team has achieved. Driving change at this scale is never easy, it takes persistence, creativity, and a shared commitment to making a difference. The commitment and effort from the HInM team and colleagues across the system have been extraordinary. This is the power of collaboration: ideas may be simple, but execution is everything. Together, we’ve turned ambition into reality and created something that is helping transform care."
Cara Afzal
