Information Centre to centralise social care records

The Information Centre is working towards producing a new information system for adult social care records, called the Adult Social Care Information Development Programme (ASCID).

The aim of the programme is to make patient records of elderly patients more person-centred and flexible. The Information Centre is carrying out a major review of social care information that will deliver information to support future patterns of care.

Roger Staton, head of the ASCID programme, said: “We want local authorities to have available the information they need: to plan, commission, deliver and monitor services. Good information means councils delivering the best care they can.”

Staton was addressing the Liquidlogic ‘Improving Practices and Performance’ conference in London last Thursday. He told the audience that the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, with the support of the Department of Health, was committed to ensuring that data and information was as relevant as possible, meeting the aims laid out in the ‘Our health, our care, our say’ white paper.

“Above all, we want to put individual people at the heart of the information that is collected, so that it is easy to get a picture of the overall care they are receiving. Clients will get the social care services they deserve.

“We are acting on surveys of users now, seeing what does the ASCID programme means to them and what they feel the benefits would be. We want to create a set of common assessment tools for their records. Agencies should be able to work closely together, there should be no need for people to ask the same questions over and over again.”

In considering the project, Staton said that all methods of managing care have been considered including direct payments, individual budgets, preventing people going into statutory care and the struggle for authorities to achieve targets.

“The agenda is changing, which means we are putting people more in control, removing barriers and working together to ensure a patient’s wellbeing. Information is the key to decision making – without it, bad decisions are made. Information must be available at the right place and time. It needs to be more relevant and be published rapidly – so it is not up to six months out of date.”

Staton told the audience that a number of care agencies are working on the ASCID, not just the IC and DH. The Commission for Social Care Inspection, Department of Communities and Local Government, Department of Works and Pensions and Connecting for Health are amongst other parties involved with the project.

“Together, we are working towards creating a person centred, integrated, shared and accessible source of information for both local and central governments to use. We are mapping current information and attempting to define future information. We are working specifically with the DH and CSCI to find out what information is needed and are attempting to define outcomes and a framework.

“We would urge people to be aware and contribute any useful material to help us go forward. We have a challenge to cover and we want to be as collaborative as possible in creating ASCID.”

Staton now wants to create one central resource for health and social care information. To do this the ASCID programme is identifying emerging social care policy and performance developments to help them identify what the information agenda will look like in five to ten years time.

“At present, we don’t get a clear picture of both health and social care data. Information is not passed between agencies well. We want to move on from this to link health centres with local government, and pool everything together into one set of data, one fully integrated system.”

The IC is now developing a data standards framework to ensure consistency in information recording and reporting between localities. They are also developing a social care data dictionary of agreed terminology and data definitions to sit alongside existing health related dictionaries. The DH and CfH will moderate these.

A checklist scheme is being created to ensure that information is only those which are considered high quality data.

Staton told EHI that a sitting group, which includes representatives from the DH, Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Healthcare Commission, had agreed upon the ASCID visions. The plans are still in development stages at present, and are not part of the National Programme for IT.

“High data standards mean you will know that information from the IC is robust and accurate – information that you can trust. New visions need solid foundations, and our plans for adult social care information need appropriate IT solutions in place to support it all.

“Our big vision will take a little time, but by working with local authorities and our key stakeholders. The Information Centre is taking real steps to deliver social care information that is fit for the future.”