Research Highlights Four Years of Growth in GNCR Adoption and Impact

Back in 2021, the Great North Care Record (GNCR) conducted a region-wide survey with health and care professionals to assess the levels of awareness amongst those who could access the shared care record system.

Following the initial results, over the past four years we have increased our efforts – expanding our communications, training, and outreach to help increase access, to GNCR and improve the delivery of care across the North East and North Cumbria.

Those efforts have now seen our unique users and views grow by 66% and 839% respectively – but we were still curious to know if awareness of GNCR grown alongside usage.

To find out, in September 2025 we repeated our research once again, and the results are in!

Usage of GNCR is up

In the 2025 survey, there were 426 participants, a significant increase (155%) from the 167 who took part in 2021. Most participants were in clinical roles in NHS Trusts, Local Authority (LA) care workers and NHS Trust admin staff.

Daily usage of GNCR has also increased significantly since 2021, with 51% of all stakeholders using it regularly compared to 13% in 2021 – with usage being highest in clinical practice (65% using daily).

More health and care professionals are aware of GNCR

In 2025, 93% of health and care professionals said that they are familiar with the Great North Care Record – up from 81% in 2021. Only 8% said they were unaware of GNCR, a significant improvement from 27% in 2021.

Induction and training are now the most common ways professionals hear about GNCR (38%), up from 16% in 2021, suggesting the system is becoming more embedded within everyday workplace processes.

GNCR is good for patient care

This year’s survey shows growing confidence that the Great North Care Record is improving patient care. 84% of stakeholders agreed that GNCR will improve patient care, compared to 70% in 2021. More than half (51%) ‘strongly agreed’, while only 6% disagreed.

The majority of stakeholders were positive about the benefits of GNCR to patient care, including: continuity of care, fast access to patient information, and improved collaboration between healthcare and social care HCPs.

Feedback from participants included;

‘Continuity of care. Stops repetitive documenting and support admission with information it provides.’ NHS Trust – Clinical

‘It centralises notes and provides highly valuable information to me in the pre-hospital/emergency setting. The quality of PT care I can provide having access to GNCR has definitely stepped up a gear.’ NHS Trust – Clinical

‘It improves linked up working between social care and NHS. It makes understanding and supporting with a person’s health journey much easier.’ Local Authority – Social Care

With the feedback being overwhelmingly positive,  a minority of our users have identified areas for improvement, within the GNCR, including more consistent data sharing from trusts and further awareness & usability. All improvements and recommendations are included in the GNCR improvement plan, which is continuously being worked on. 

Looking ahead

Alongside the survey, we also conducted a focus group – as we did in 2021- with participants representing NHS trusts and local authorities. The discussions found;

  • The GNCR is now considered to be an essential day-to-day tool across both health and social care settings.
  • It is a user-friendly system, but some step-by-step video tutorials would be beneficial to new users.

We’re thrilled with the progress made since 2021, and we’re excited to use these latest findings to provide even better support, guidance, and communications with our users across the North East and North Cumbria.