Dorset joins Interweave shared care record network

NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board has joined the Interweave Partnership with the Dorset Care Record, bringing more than 800,000 people into the shared care record network.

The move takes the total population covered by the partnership to more than 10 million across seven NHS regions. Interweave is the NHS-owned shared care record system delivered by Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.

The Dorset Care Record is used by health and social care organisations across the county, including hospitals and GP services. It brings electronic health and social care information together in one place, allowing appropriate professionals across different services to view records and make care decisions.

The partnership is intended to support joined-up care by giving staff access to current, relevant information when needed. The system is run by an in-house team at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, with open-source code and intellectual property owned by the NHS.

Wider network

The Dorset agreement extends Interweave's reach at a time when health services are under pressure to share information more effectively across organisational boundaries. Shared care records have become central to efforts to improve coordination between hospitals, GPs, community services and social care providers.

Dorset's inclusion adds another integrated care board to a portfolio that already spans six other NHS regions, giving the partnership a broader geographic footprint and a larger patient base using a common approach to record sharing.

Locally, the Dorset Care Record has been presented as a secure way to make information easier to access for professionals involved in treatment and support. The aim is to reduce delays in decision-making and help staff provide care using the most up-to-date information available.

NHS ownership

Interweave's model differs from some other digital health systems because it is NHS-owned and developed within the health service, rather than supplied as a proprietary platform by a single outside vendor. Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust said supply chain partners support delivery, while the underlying code remains open source.

That structure reflects a wider NHS debate over how digital infrastructure should be procured, shared and maintained. For trusts and integrated care systems, interoperability, control over data-sharing tools and the long-term costs of technology platforms remain significant issues.

Ian Clucas outlined the organisation's view of the Dorset partnership after the agreement was announced.

"We're thrilled to formally introduce Dorset to the Interweave Partnership. It has been a positive experience working with our colleagues in Dorset over the past months, who share our vision of providing digitally enhanced and inclusive care. Thank you to everyone who has worked hard on this project, enabling us to reach this significant milestone. We very much look forward to continuing and building on this progress together as we move forward," said Ian Clucas, Deputy CIO, Interweave.

Sector recognition

The partnership has also received recognition within the health technology sector. Interweave was shortlisted in the HTN Awards 2026 in the Partnership of the Year category and won the HSJ Digital Award for Driving Interoperability and Standards Through Digital at the 2026 ceremony.

Those awards reflect growing attention on systems that allow clinicians and care staff to work across service boundaries with access to the same information. As integrated care systems mature, the ability to connect records from different providers is increasingly treated as a core part of service delivery rather than a stand-alone IT project.

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, which delivers Interweave, provides integrated healthcare services across Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Whitby, Scarborough and Ryedale, and parts of North and North-East Lincolnshire. The trust serves a population of about 765,000 and employs around 3,600 staff across more than 79 sites.

With Dorset now included, the Interweave Partnership covers more than 10 million people across seven NHS regions.