At Answer Digital, we believe that the best tech doesn’t just sit in the background — it enables real change. That’s exactly what we saw at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, where our work to integrate the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) FHIR API directly into the trust’s systems delivered a 50% reduction in admin burden, faster triage times, and smoother referral handling for clinicians.

Now, thanks to newly announced 2025/26 national capital funding, other trusts have the opportunity to do the same.

e-RS Integration Funding

Offer 5 of the NHS England Capital Funding Programme provides up to £100,000 per trust* to support the integration of the e-RS FHIR API into your existing EPR, PAS or clinical systems. The goal is to reduce the double handling of referrals, streamline workflows, and bring a more joined-up digital experience to referral and advice & guidance pathways.

*available for NHS acute, specialist acute, mental health and community health trusts.

What can this funding be used for?

Trusts can use the capital to:

• Fully develop and implement e-RS API integration within their systems
• Partner with delivery experts like Answer Digital to scope and deliver the work
• Extend existing basic integrations to include advanced functionality like triage, workflow routing or status updates
• Enable staff to triage and respond to referrals within their core systems — no need to switch to the e-RS portal
• Reduce manual effort, duplicate data entry, and administrative bottlenecks

Why it matters

In our Rotherham project, the difference was immediate:
✅ Faster processing of advice requests
✅ Improved oversight and ownership for clinicians
✅ Significant administrative time savings
✅ Better alignment with national interoperability goals

This funding window offers trusts a real opportunity to build on what’s proven — and to avoid reinventing the wheel.

Ready to take the next step?

If your trust is exploring e-RS integration, we’re here to help. From scoping and design to delivery and assurance, we’ve done it before — and we’re ready to do it again.

Interested in a no-obligation chat to explore what's possible? Get in touch today.