Tower Hamlets goes live with e-SAP

Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust has become the first London trust to implement new electronic Single Assessment Process (e-SAP) software, allowing its NHS and social services staff to share care records electronically.

e-SAP is NHS Connecting for Health’s project for joint electronic health and social care assessment and care planning for individuals. In the future it is intended that the system will work in conjunction with the NHS Care Records Service (CRS) and the Electronic Social Care (ESC) Record.

The system was first implemented in June and over 200 staff have now been trained to use the software to speed up communication across Tower Hamlets, improve information sharing and avoid unnecessary duplication and contacts with patients.

Polly Wicks, Tower Hamlets Social Services SAP project manager told E-Health Insider: “This is a big advance for us; being able to share this information will help in all kinds of ways. We’re getting very positive responses from staff across the borough and the system saves them so much time in not having to look through paperwork for information.”

The trust was already using the single assessment process through paper and fax before switching to the new electronic format and argue that the technology enables staff to access information they need more quickly.

They are now trialling e-SAP for the London cluster of Connecting for Health and are providing feedback to CfH as well as to BT, who implemented the system.

Wicks added: “The most noticeable benefit is we can access the system 24/7 and update it with all the latest notes for anyone registered to see within the local authority social services team, the hospital elderly persons team, at the PCT the contact centres devoted to people who use our care and by specific staff on duty at A & E.”

The e-SAP system is secure, say CfH, as staff log on using smartcards that hold information on the owner of the card, and restrict viewing rights according to your role within the company. Unauthorised attempts to access patient information are recorded and shown on the system’s audit report.

The smartcard will also enable information to be verified and shared using the NHS’s national data Spine service.

Fiona Danks, manager of an elderly people’s rehabilitation ward said: “We had teething problems with the number of emails that kept landing in our inboxes, but that was a problem with the way the system was set up. We got that sorted out quite quickly.

“It’s really starting to happen with e-SAP. It’s working well. As more people start to use the system, it will become even more useful.”

Richard Fradgley, general manager of the East London and the City Mental Health Trust added: “e-SAP isn’t yet fully populated, but once it’s up and running, we can see that there will be benefits for service users and for staff in being able to share information with our partners across the borough.”

Phase two of the project in the trust is expected to take place later this year, with double the amount of users taking advantage of the system.

A spokesperson for Connecting for Health London told EHI: “e-SAP has been very well received at Tower Hamlets and on the back of this; we are in talks with several organisations about the possibility of them going live with e-SAP within the next year.”