Claudia de’Vries, project manager for health inequalities at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (Credit: Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust)
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust will introduce a flag into its Oracle Health electronic patient record (EPR) to help staff identify patients at greater risk of health inequalities.
The inequalities flag, which will go live trust-wide from 21 September after already being piloted in maternity services, is designed to prompt staff to consider whether patients face barriers that could affect their access to healthcare, experience of services or health outcomes.
Potential barriers could include difficulties attending appointments, understanding information, accessing support or engaging with healthcare services.
Claudia de’Vries, project manager for health inequalities at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS FT, said: “Since piloting the flag with maternity services, it has encouraged greater professional curiosity.
“When colleagues see the flag, they are prompted to ask more questions, look deeper into the patient’s record and consider whether they may need additional support.
“This helps us identify needs that might otherwise be missed and ensures we can provide the right care and support for each patient.”
During the maternity pilot, staff reported that the flag supported more personalised conversations with patients and helped inform care planning.
The flag will appear within the clinical record of patients identified as being at greater risk of health inequalities.
According to the trust, the flag is not intended to replace clinical judgement, but to highlight barriers to healthcare that may not be immediately apparent to staff and which could affect a patient’s access to services or health outcomes.
When the flag appears, staff will be prompted to consider whether the patient requires additional support or reasonable adjustments to their care, such as adapting how information is communicated or taking other steps to address barriers that could make it more difficult for the patient to access or engage with services.
The trust added the flag is intended to support a more personalised approach to care by giving staff an additional prompt to consider circumstances that may affect individual patients.
Meanwhile, in March 2026, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust achieved two HIMSS stage six validations for its use of digital, data and technology to support patient care.
The trust, which runs Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, Calderdale Royal Hospital and community services, achieved validations for HIMSS Infrastructure Adoption Model (INFRAM) and Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM).
This followed its stage six validation for the Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity (AMAM) in 2024, which was a European first at the time.
For more on healthcare inequalities you can listen to the ‘The Forgotten Patients: Is the digital NHS leaving people behind?‘ on Digital Health Unplugged.