IN ACTION DATA


T A TOOL FOR ALL


Meaker and Atkinson have been hard at work with a private company, creating a software system that enables clinical commissioning groups to collate and interpret data with ease, so the GPs and their colleagues on the boards can do their jobs. The system they created combines financial and clinical data at patient, practice, pathfinder and sector levels, from primary and secondary care (identifying detailed costs), community services and social care. Bringing together pounds, patients and productivity, this overview of patients’ interactions with the NHS is invaluable in managing the commissioning process.


The system enables clinicians to identify ‘at risk’ patients, or those whose healthcare could be improved, allowing action to be taken to improve health and wellbeing for individual patients and reduce emergency admissions. Initially developed for NHS Redbridge and subsequently rolled out to NHS outer north east London


he commissioning agenda could be divided into three parts: get data, interpret it, and deliver care. That’s an oversimplification,


but it’s important to understand that acquiring information and understanding is essentially two-thirds of the battle when it comes to commissioning patient care. The whole point of the health service’s recent overhaul is to put GPs in the driving seat, but they won’t be getting anywhere fast without the metaphorical road map. People like Rob Meaker, programme director for innovation, and Colleen Atkinson, business development manager, across four CCGs in outer north east London, are like the Google Maps of healthcare – if you’re still with me on my analogy. They’re the ones building the infrastructure for the collection, and adequate interpretation of data. The problem is, to get it right, there are no half measures. And the team at this PCT cluster HQ in Ilford know that only too well. Mapping out data only makes them realise how challenging it is and will be to interpret it accurately and appropriately.


(ONEL) and beyond, the solution delivers commissioning management functionality to six CCGs and in excess of one and a half million patients.


Phase one has been live since 2009 in Redbridge and has been scaled up since December 2010 by being deployed to three neighbouring PCTs. In 2010, a pilot was established to manage all financial challenges to the acute sector through the tool (which is partially active). Running in parallel with the PCTs’ existing systems, the pilot proved it was possible to automate the process and find millions of pounds in correct acute trust billing. A further extension of the pilot enabled clinicians to challenge the hospital invoices, generating an additional £250,000 of savings. They are now working on several other projects, one being the integration of care plans. The project aims to identify a robust data set and format from various services within healthcare and social care, for patients receiving care through the integrated care model. Social services currently provide three types of services: elderly care homes, home care (reablement services) and day centres. Healthcare has a number of services that produce care plans for patients, such as long-term conditions, diabetes and end-of-life care. The proposal is for each of these services to report their care plans through a single interface which is accessible to professionals from each sector by working with clinicians and clients to agree the dataset requirements for patients and professionals involved, and agree a format for this care plan with service providers.


TRANSITIONING When you visit NHS NELC in a red brick high-rise in Ilford, understanding what is what and who is who can be a challenge, with all the recent clustering and reshuffling going on. This is more confusing than ever here at Becketts House. Redbridge, Havering, and Barking and Dagenham are three independent CCGs that work collaboratively as Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge CCGs. Redbridge CCG and some shared staff are based in the building, while Havering and Barking and Dagenham CCG staff are based locally within their


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