diff --git a/src/app/+item-page/edit-item-page/item-metadata/item-metadata.component.ts b/src/app/+item-page/edit-item-page/item-metadata/item-metadata.component.ts
index 9fcf16b62d..2635ba3f60 100644
--- a/src/app/+item-page/edit-item-page/item-metadata/item-metadata.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/+item-page/edit-item-page/item-metadata/item-metadata.component.ts
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ import { NotificationsService } from '../../../shared/notifications/notification
 import { GLOBAL_CONFIG, GlobalConfig } from '../../../../config';
 import { TranslateService } from '@ngx-translate/core';
 import { RegistryService } from '../../../core/registry/registry.service';
-import { MetadatumViewModel } from '../../../core/shared/metadata.models';
+import { MetadataValue, MetadatumViewModel } from '../../../core/shared/metadata.models';
 import { Metadata } from '../../../core/shared/metadata.utils';
 import { AbstractItemUpdateComponent } from '../abstract-item-update/abstract-item-update.component';
 import { MetadataField } from '../../../core/metadata/metadata-field.model';
 import { UpdateDataService } from '../../../core/data/update-data.service';
-import { hasNoValue } from '../../../shared/empty.util';
+import { hasNoValue, hasValue } from '../../../shared/empty.util';
 import { AlertType } from '../../../shared/alert/aletr-type';
 
 @Component({
@@ -115,13 +115,14 @@ export class ItemMetadataComponent extends AbstractItemUpdateComponent {
           first(),
           switchMap((metadata: MetadatumViewModel[]) => {
             const updatedItem: Item = Object.assign(cloneDeep(this.item), { metadata: Metadata.toMetadataMap(metadata) });
-            return this.updateService.update(updatedItem);
+            return this.updateService.update(updatedItem, ['relation.*', 'relationship.*']);
           }),
           tap(() => this.updateService.commitUpdates()),
           getSucceededRemoteData()
         ).subscribe(
           (rd: RemoteData<Item>) => {
             this.item = rd.payload;
+            this.checkAndFixMetadataUUIDs();
             this.initializeOriginalFields();
             this.updates$ = this.objectUpdatesService.getFieldUpdates(this.url, this.getMetadataAsListExcludingRelationships());
             this.notificationsService.success(this.getNotificationTitle('saved'), this.getNotificationContent('saved'));
@@ -143,7 +144,21 @@ export class ItemMetadataComponent extends AbstractItemUpdateComponent {
       map((remoteData$) => remoteData$.payload.page.map((field: MetadataField) => field.toString())));
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Get the object's metadata as a list and exclude relationship metadata
+   */
   getMetadataAsListExcludingRelationships(): MetadatumViewModel[] {
     return this.item.metadataAsList.filter((metadata: MetadatumViewModel) => !metadata.key.startsWith('relation.') && !metadata.key.startsWith('relationship.'));
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Check for empty metadata UUIDs and fix them (empty UUIDs would break the object-update service)
+   */
+  checkAndFixMetadataUUIDs() {
+    const metadata = cloneDeep(this.item.metadata);
+    Object.keys(this.item.metadata).forEach((key: string) => {
+      metadata[key] = this.item.metadata[key].map((value) => hasValue(value.uuid) ? value : Object.assign(new MetadataValue(), value));
+    });
+    this.item.metadata = metadata;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/app/core/cache/server-sync-buffer.effects.ts b/src/app/core/cache/server-sync-buffer.effects.ts
index 3aa6ad312f..61f758e5a4 100644
--- a/src/app/core/cache/server-sync-buffer.effects.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/cache/server-sync-buffer.effects.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import { Action, createSelector, MemoizedSelector, select, Store } from '@ngrx/s
 import { ServerSyncBufferEntry, ServerSyncBufferState } from './server-sync-buffer.reducer';
 import { combineLatest as observableCombineLatest, of as observableOf } from 'rxjs';
 import { RequestService } from '../data/request.service';
-import { PutRequest } from '../data/request.models';
+import { PatchRequest, PutRequest } from '../data/request.models';
 import { ObjectCacheService } from './object-cache.service';
 import { ApplyPatchObjectCacheAction } from './object-cache.actions';
 import { DSpaceRESTv2Serializer } from '../dspace-rest-v2/dspace-rest-v2.serializer';
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import { GenericConstructor } from '../shared/generic-constructor';
 import { hasValue, isNotEmpty, isNotUndefined } from '../../shared/empty.util';
 import { Observable } from 'rxjs/internal/Observable';
 import { RestRequestMethod } from '../data/rest-request-method';
+import { Operation } from 'fast-json-patch';
+import { ObjectCacheEntry } from './object-cache.reducer';
 
 @Injectable()
 export class ServerSyncBufferEffects {
@@ -96,15 +98,18 @@ export class ServerSyncBufferEffects {
    * @returns {Observable<Action>} ApplyPatchObjectCacheAction to be dispatched
    */
   private applyPatch(href: string): Observable<Action> {
-    const patchObject = this.objectCache.getObjectBySelfLink(href).pipe(take(1));
+    const patchObject = this.objectCache.getBySelfLink(href).pipe(take(1));
 
     return patchObject.pipe(
-      map((object) => {
-        const serializedObject = new DSpaceRESTv2Serializer(object.constructor as GenericConstructor<{}>).serialize(object);
-
-        this.requestService.configure(new PutRequest(this.requestService.generateRequestId(), href, serializedObject));
-
-        return new ApplyPatchObjectCacheAction(href)
+      map((entry: ObjectCacheEntry) => {
+        if (isNotEmpty(entry.patches)) {
+          const flatPatch: Operation[] = [].concat(...entry.patches.map((patch) => patch.operations));
+          const objectPatch = flatPatch.filter((op: Operation) => op.path.startsWith('/metadata'));
+          if (isNotEmpty(objectPatch)) {
+            this.requestService.configure(new PatchRequest(this.requestService.generateRequestId(), href, objectPatch));
+          }
+        }
+        return new ApplyPatchObjectCacheAction(href);
       })
     )
   }
diff --git a/src/app/core/data/data.service.ts b/src/app/core/data/data.service.ts
index 04d1990eac..5a56fd5668 100644
--- a/src/app/core/data/data.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/data/data.service.ts
@@ -262,13 +262,24 @@ export abstract class DataService<T extends CacheableObject> implements UpdateDa
    * The patch is derived from the differences between the given object and its version in the object cache
    * @param {DSpaceObject} object The given object
    */
-  update(object: T): Observable<RemoteData<T>> {
+  update(object: T, ignoreMetadataFields: string[] = []): Observable<RemoteData<T>> {
+    const ignoreMetadataFieldsPrefix = ignoreMetadataFields.map((field) => field.indexOf('*') > -1 ? field.slice(0, field.indexOf('*')) : field);
     const oldVersion$ = this.findByHref(object.self);
     return oldVersion$.pipe(
       getSucceededRemoteData(),
       getRemoteDataPayload(),
       mergeMap((oldVersion: T) => {
-        const operations = this.comparator.diff(oldVersion, object);
+        // Fetch operations from difference between old version and new version
+        // Filter out any metadata operations for a field specified under ignoreMetadataFields
+        const operations = this.comparator.diff(oldVersion, object).filter((operation) => {
+          let ignoredFieldFound = false;
+          ignoreMetadataFieldsPrefix.forEach((fieldPrefix) => {
+            if (operation.path.indexOf('/metadata/' + fieldPrefix) > -1) {
+              ignoredFieldFound = true;
+            }
+          });
+          return !ignoredFieldFound;
+        });
         if (isNotEmpty(operations)) {
           this.objectCache.addPatch(object.self, operations);
         }
diff --git a/src/app/core/data/dso-change-analyzer.service.ts b/src/app/core/data/dso-change-analyzer.service.ts
index dd3487d3d0..ce3ed2452e 100644
--- a/src/app/core/data/dso-change-analyzer.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/data/dso-change-analyzer.service.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import { ChangeAnalyzer } from './change-analyzer';
 import { NormalizedDSpaceObject } from '../cache/models/normalized-dspace-object.model';
 import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
 import { DSpaceObject } from '../shared/dspace-object.model';
+import { MetadataMap } from '../shared/metadata.models';
+import { cloneDeep } from 'lodash';
 
 /**
  * A class to determine what differs between two
@@ -22,6 +24,21 @@ export class DSOChangeAnalyzer<T extends DSpaceObject> implements ChangeAnalyzer
    *    The second object to compare
    */
   diff(object1: T | NormalizedDSpaceObject<T>, object2: T | NormalizedDSpaceObject<T>): Operation[] {
-    return compare(object1.metadata, object2.metadata).map((operation: Operation) => Object.assign({}, operation, { path: '/metadata' + operation.path }));
+    return compare(this.filterUUIDsFromMetadata(object1.metadata), this.filterUUIDsFromMetadata(object2.metadata))
+      .map((operation: Operation) => Object.assign({}, operation, { path: '/metadata' + operation.path }));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Filter the UUIDs out of a MetadataMap
+   * @param metadata
+   */
+  filterUUIDsFromMetadata(metadata: MetadataMap): MetadataMap {
+    const result = cloneDeep(metadata);
+    for (const key of Object.keys(result)) {
+      for (const metadataValue of result[key]) {
+        metadataValue.uuid = undefined;
+      }
+    }
+    return result;
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/app/core/data/item-template-data.service.ts b/src/app/core/data/item-template-data.service.ts
index aaa664d7ec..e5b862b947 100644
--- a/src/app/core/data/item-template-data.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/data/item-template-data.service.ts
@@ -158,8 +158,8 @@ export class ItemTemplateDataService implements UpdateDataService<Item> {
   /**
    * Add a new patch to the object cache
    */
-  update(object: Item): Observable<RemoteData<Item>> {
-    return this.dataService.update(object);
+  update(object: Item, ignoreMetadataFields: string[] = []): Observable<RemoteData<Item>> {
+    return this.dataService.update(object, ignoreMetadataFields);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/app/core/data/request.models.ts b/src/app/core/data/request.models.ts
index ca864f99de..f7546183ae 100644
--- a/src/app/core/data/request.models.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/data/request.models.ts
@@ -118,6 +118,8 @@ export class HeadRequest extends RestRequest {
 }
 
 export class PatchRequest extends RestRequest {
+  public responseMsToLive = 60 * 15 * 1000;
+
   constructor(
     public uuid: string,
     public href: string,
diff --git a/src/app/core/data/update-data.service.ts b/src/app/core/data/update-data.service.ts
index 34835e14c1..a429be4319 100644
--- a/src/app/core/data/update-data.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/data/update-data.service.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ import { RestRequestMethod } from './rest-request-method';
  * Represents a data service to update a given object
  */
 export interface UpdateDataService<T> {
-  update(object: T): Observable<RemoteData<T>>;
+  update(object: T, ignoreMetadataFields?: string[]): Observable<RemoteData<T>>;
   commitUpdates(method?: RestRequestMethod);
 }