DMA 2025: What the Latest DMA Results Tell Us About the EPR Productivity Gap
The latest NHS England Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA) 2024 and 2025 results are finally out. With every Trust and ICB across the country taking part, we now have a clear picture of how the digital side of the NHS is actually performing.
The report shows exactly where we stand against the What Good Looks Like standards and the big goals of the 10 Year Health Plan.
DMA 2025 results at a glance
- 100% response rate across all 205 trusts and 42 ICBs
- 93% of providers now use an Electronic Patient Record (EPR)
- 30% of providers have achieved fully integrated, two-way data flows
- 90% of providers can access a Shared Care Record (ShCR)
- 34% of providers can’t yet share data digitally with virtual ward clinical teams
The data shows that while most trusts now have the right kit, it isn’t always working together. This ‘integration gap’ is what stops the NHS from seeing the real productivity gains we all want. For ICBs and frontline teams, these results are a clear roadmap: it is time to move past just installing software and start building a system that actually talks to itself.
The strategic framework for integrated care
The DMA results are structured around the seven pillars of the WGLL framework, showing what a modern, joined-up health system should look like. It covers everything from basic kit to how to support patients and staff.
Well Led ICBs are now expected to have a clear digital plan that isn’t just about the next few months, but the next few years. It means making decisions based on what is happening right now, not looking at reports from last month. This is backed by Smart Foundations, which is the basic kit like reliable wi-fi and cloud storage that works for staff no matter which building they are working from.
Safety and people are still the priority. Safe Practice means keeping all digital records tidy and up to standard, while the Support People pillar is about making sure staff actually feel confident using these new tools. To Empower Citizens, ICBs are working on making things like self-triage and referrals much easier for patients to use through a single, simple interface.
The goal is to Improve Care and support Healthy Populations. This only works if 100% of trusts and GPs are actually using the Shared Care Record. When these systems talk to each other, primary care teams can stop just reacting to the next appointment and start spotting risks early. It’s the difference between treating a crisis and preventing one.
Identifying the gaps
Despite having the right framework, the 2024 and 2025 results show some real-world frustrations. Only 30% of providers have systems that truly talk to each other. For everyone else, data is still getting ‘stuck’, meaning staff often have to move information between systems by hand.
We see this clearly with virtual wards. Even though every ICB has set them up, a third of providers still can’t share data digitally with the clinical teams. In primary care, this lack of connection is essentially a ‘digital tax’ on a clinician’s time, forcing them to chase information instead of seeing patients.
We have the tools, now we need them to talk to each other.
The 2024 and 2025 results show that while the basic digital kit is in place, getting it all to work as one system is the real challenge. Progress now depends on making sure that bedside technology, primary care records and central data all stay in sync. If we can break down these final silos, we stop making staff enter the same data twice and finally give them more time back to actually care for patients.
Find out how Wandsworth Healthcare and DNV Imatis helps Trusts address these digital maturity gaps:
https://www.wandsworthhealthcare.com/digital-patient-journey/