May 2015

New IT system announced to link health and community social services

Ł6.7m investment in new IT system will integrate NHS and social services in Wales

Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford has announced a multi-million pound investment will be made in a new IT system to further integrate health and social care in Wales.

The Welsh Government is investing Ł6.7m to purchase and develop a new Community Care Information Solution (CCIS), which will allow information to be shared between different health and social services instantly, helping to deliver improved care and support for people across Wales.

The NHS Wales Informatics Service is actively involved in managing the procurement in partnership with Bridgend County Community Council. The new system will enable health, social services, mental health, therapy and community services to ensure services and support for individuals, families and communities are more effectively planned, co-ordinated, and delivered. It will support information sharing requirements, case management and workflow for the organisations across Wales.

CCIS will interface with a range of different systems across local authorities and NHS organisations as a common application. It covers processes undertaken by community health and social care workers, and across primary, community and secondary care settings, to show where a patient is within their treatment journey and alerting health professionals to key data, which will aid efficient treatment.

The Ł6.7m capital grant will allow Bridgend County Borough Council to take forward the first phase of the implementation and to create the national infrastructure to enable all social care and health organisations in Wales to benefit from the new system.

With the national hardware and all-Wales licences paid for by this Ł6.7m capital grant, all Local Councils and Health Boards will be able to implement the new system at a reduced cost of system replacement as they no longer have to pay for hardware or licences.

The investment is part of the recently announced Ł14.9m package of Welsh Government capital funding for the NHS, which was announced in January.

Worrying figures

Data provided for study on childhood obesity

The latest report on childhood weight and obesity in Wales uses key data and statistics provided by the NHS Wales Informatics Service.

More than 30,000 children were weighed for the annual Childhood Measurement study and the results were recorded on the national Child Health System.

The study, published this month, is crucial in addressing childhood obesity. It found that proportion for Wales (26%) is still worse than the worst region for child obesity in England (24%). A total of 32.4% of four and five-year-olds are overweight or obese on Anglesey. Merthyr Tydfil is still top for obesity (16.4%).

Software developers within NHS Wales Informatics Service's Operational Services Department developed the new screens on the Child Health System which allowed the height and weight information to be captured. The Information Services Department extracted, analysed and pseudonymised the data for Public Health Wales, and also provided advice in the terms of its use.

"We have been very pleased to work in partnership with Public Health Wales," said NHS Wales Informatics Service's Head of Information, Dr Tim O'Sullivan. "This report demonstrates the value of data and knowledge to help improve the development of children in Wales."

New emergency department clinical system to provide service in quick tempo situations

'Symphony' to be piloted in two health board A&Es

A new Emergency Department Clinical Information Management System (EDCIMS) called Symphony is first to be introduced to emergency departments in Betsi Cadwaladr and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg health boards to deal with managing emergencies and triaging patients.

The aim is for the departments using the system to work completely paperless.

The system will be used on mobile wireless devices as well as fixed IT stations. Emergency department staff will be able to tell which patients haven't been triaged, are in the most serious condition or are waiting for test results, specialist review and medication.

It will also support patient management by having a dashboard function showing where patients are in their journey through the department, while simplifying auditing.

In North Wales, the system will be used to support a local pub safety scheme as well as pinpointing spots of higher-than-normal clinical activity of illnesses such as pandemic flu, norovirus or diarrhoea and vomiting.

In time, Symphony will roll out across NHS Wales and will link into the national Patient Administration System, the Master Patient Index, the Welsh Clinical Communications Gateway and the Welsh Clinical Portal.

Informatics in words

Working closer

"Bridgend County Borough Council is proud to be acting as the lead local authority for this project, which will lead to seamless information sharing between organisations and an improved health and social care service for the community.

Moving away from individual stand-alone systems will be of particular use in supporting emergency and out-of-hours services, and will enable health and social care services to work in a closer, far more effective manner."

Councillor Mel Nott OBE, Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council speaking about the new Community Care Information Solution (see story left).

Informatics @ Events

A coding extravangaza hosted in our Cardiff offices

BCSWomen are looking to promote careers in IT by attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people learning to write Android smartphone applications at the same time.

On Saturday 13th June, BCSWomen, along with various universities, organisations, companies and as many people as they can gather together across the UK will hold a record-shattering BCS App-a-thon.

Individuals and families with children over the age of 10 will learn how to build Android apps using MIT AppInventor - a free, web-based system for creating simple apps using drag-and-drop coding techniques. No previous experience is necessary and the event is open to everyone.

NHS Wales Informatics Service will be holding the event at our Cardiff offices, but there are other locations where you can visit throughout the UK.

Trainers and teachers will be on site to help you build some simple interactive applications that you run on your own Android phone or tablet.

Learn more about the event or register by visiting the BCSWomen website or contact our Head of Workforce & Organisational Development, Wendy Dearing.

Andrew Griffiths to speak at the Celtic Manor's Digital 2015 event

Chief Information Officer, Director Andrew Griffiths will be joining over a hundred world-class speakers and businesses providing their opinion on the latest digital trends and their expectations
for the future at Digital 2015 in the Celtic Manor, Newport on 8-9th June.

For more information or if you would like to attend, head to the event's website at:

digital2015.co.uk

Informatics in numbers

380

The nationwide migration to upgraded systems in GP practices throughout Wales is almost completed.

380 out of 459 GP practices have now been migrated to new computer systems.

The new systems are being delivered from secure NHS data centres with high availability, zero data loss and rapid recovery in the event of system failure.

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