A history of healthcare computing and advances in clinical information productivity in Southampton, 1980 -2024: essay 5: Oracle application express (APEX) and UHS apps, 2011-2024
A history of healthcare computing and advances in clinical information productivity in Southampton, 1980 -2024: essay 5: Oracle application express (APEX) and UHS apps, 2011-2024
In previous essays in this series, I have focussed upon the development of the unique components of the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) at University Hospital Southampton from the late 1980s onwards, and culminating in the creation of the UHS CHARTS integrated EPR system in 2016.
However, there is another dimension to computing in a major university teaching hospital, which addresses the myriad of operational activities which can be made more productive and efficient through computerisation.
Until David Waghorn volunteered his knowledge of the history of the contributions of the Oracle Applications Express (APEX) portfolio of Apps which had been developed on site from 2011 onwards, I had no knowledge of the scale and scope of the work of the APEX development team at UHS over the next decade, and into and through the Covid Pandemic of 2020-2021.
This work is a very important component of the wider UHS Clinical Data Estate. Some of the Apps are purely operational and administrative, and others relate directly to clinical services and to clinical research.
I am therefore most grateful to David Waghorn for providing his copious notes and recollections of a very productive decade of development of the APEX Apps portfolio. I have sought to edit his material and voice in the first person with a light touch to fit the style of the series, and to amplify the text with technical explanations from other sources where it was helpful for my own technical education.
Beyond the factual descriptions of the key components of the portfolio, his testimony makes clear the patience, dedication, adaptability and humanity with which the unsung “back room” teams of digital engineering specialists have contributed to the Southampton Digital Transformation Programme and to the productivity and effectiveness of the many clinical and management teams who have benefitted from their work.
Electronic Patient Record, APEX, eDocs, HICSS, eQuest, UHS CHARTS, Oracle Applications Express, University Hospital Southampton, Digital Transformation Programme, Agile Software Development, UHS Apps, Global Digital Exemplar
University of Southampton
Waghorn, David
3f7d50d5-718d-4168-98c5-0c45d878fd36
Rew, David
36dcc3ad-2379-4b61-a468-5c623d796887
30 March 2026
Waghorn, David
3f7d50d5-718d-4168-98c5-0c45d878fd36
Rew, David
36dcc3ad-2379-4b61-a468-5c623d796887
Waghorn, David and Rew, David
(2026)
A history of healthcare computing and advances in clinical information productivity in Southampton, 1980 -2024: essay 5: Oracle application express (APEX) and UHS apps, 2011-2024
(Principia Medicinae Digitalis Sotoniensis)
University of Southampton
46pp.
Record type:
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Abstract
In previous essays in this series, I have focussed upon the development of the unique components of the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) at University Hospital Southampton from the late 1980s onwards, and culminating in the creation of the UHS CHARTS integrated EPR system in 2016.
However, there is another dimension to computing in a major university teaching hospital, which addresses the myriad of operational activities which can be made more productive and efficient through computerisation.
Until David Waghorn volunteered his knowledge of the history of the contributions of the Oracle Applications Express (APEX) portfolio of Apps which had been developed on site from 2011 onwards, I had no knowledge of the scale and scope of the work of the APEX development team at UHS over the next decade, and into and through the Covid Pandemic of 2020-2021.
This work is a very important component of the wider UHS Clinical Data Estate. Some of the Apps are purely operational and administrative, and others relate directly to clinical services and to clinical research.
I am therefore most grateful to David Waghorn for providing his copious notes and recollections of a very productive decade of development of the APEX Apps portfolio. I have sought to edit his material and voice in the first person with a light touch to fit the style of the series, and to amplify the text with technical explanations from other sources where it was helpful for my own technical education.
Beyond the factual descriptions of the key components of the portfolio, his testimony makes clear the patience, dedication, adaptability and humanity with which the unsung “back room” teams of digital engineering specialists have contributed to the Southampton Digital Transformation Programme and to the productivity and effectiveness of the many clinical and management teams who have benefitted from their work.
Text
Essay 5 David Waghorn History of UHS APEX Apps 2011-2024 DAR Edit 30.03.2026
- Author's Original
More information
Published date: 30 March 2026
Additional Information:
David Waghorn BSc
Principal IT Systems Developer,
Digital Developments, UHS Apps and UHS Digital
University Hospital Southampton
David Anthony Rew MA MChir (Cambridge) FRCS (London)
Consultant General Surgeon, Southampton Hospitals
Clinical Informatics Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine,
The University of Southampton
Keywords:
Electronic Patient Record, APEX, eDocs, HICSS, eQuest, UHS CHARTS, Oracle Applications Express, University Hospital Southampton, Digital Transformation Programme, Agile Software Development, UHS Apps, Global Digital Exemplar
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 510704
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/510704
PURE UUID: 0c928102-fae5-475c-8463-f4f700eeaa89
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Date deposited: 17 Apr 2026 16:33
Last modified: 18 Apr 2026 02:05
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Author:
David Waghorn
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