18th August 2025
The Welsh Nursing Care Record is now live across all eligible wards in Wales!
The award-winning Welsh Nursing Care Record (WNCR) is now live on all eligible inpatient wards across Wales. Following a pilot in 2020, and full rollout in April 2021, WNCR is now used daily by over 20,000 clinical staff in 58 hospitals across Wales.
Developed in partnership with Welsh Government, Health Boards and Trusts, with academic evaluation by universities in Wales, this secure, standardised digital system replaces paper-based records, enhancing care, quality, and efficiency by enabling nurses to record and assess patient information at the bedside using a tablet, laptop, or mobile computer. This reduces duplication, improves consistency, auditability and communication and frees up time for patient care.
Sue Tranka, Chief Nursing Officer for Wales said: “I am delighted to see the successful national rollout of the Welsh Nursing Care Record across all eligible inpatient wards in Wales. This achievement marks a significant step forward in modernising nursing practice, reducing duplication, freeing up valuable time for patient care, and enhancing the safety and quality of the care we provide.
“I look forward to the opportunities this will create to triangulate assessments, enabling more preventative, focused, and individualised interventions. My sincere thanks go to everyone who has helped make this vision a reality.”
Jason Roberts, Chair of the WNCR Service Management Board and Executive Nurse Director at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “We are so pleased that we have rolled out the WNCR across all our hospital wards. This is a significant step forward in improving the way we document and manage patient care. This will allow nursing staff to have instant access to accurate, up-to-date information, reducing duplication and freeing up more time for patient care.”
This achievement marks one of the most significant professional and digital transformations in nursing practice in Wales in the last 30 years. Fran Beadle, Chief Nursing Information Officer at Digital Health and Care Wales said: “It is fantastic to see that the WNCR has now been rolled out nationally. The system supports improved patient safety and continuity of care by ensuring that all healthcare professionals have instant access to accurate, up-to-date information.”
The WNCR includes standardised digital versions of ten core risk assessments and inpatient notes, improving consistency, audibility and communication across the NHS. James Braun, Product Manager for WNCR added: “It has been amazing working with all the teams across NHS Wales on the WNCR, and it’s so rewarding to now have rolled out the system out 100%.”