30 apps to collect CQUIN data

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust will use 30 apps to collect patient data on the move for the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation framework.

It will use the apps on iPad minis to gather and process information required by the Department of Health for CQUIN payments.

The trust’s project manager Jaime King said it wanted to maximise both income and efficiency by using the new technology.

“We were keen to see if mobile working could help us improve this situation while also ensuring the trust is recognised as meeting targets and therefore receives maximum income,” he said.

The project aims to create around 30 apps, developed by software company NDL, to cover a range of CQUIN requirements, with the first three in advanced stages of development.

The first appwill enable clinicians to record patient answers relating to smoking cessation, while the second records patient risk assessments for deep vein thrombosis.

A third, called the patient safety thermometer, measures a range of common afflictions patients may experience while in care such as pressure ulcers, falls, and urinary tract infections in patients with catheters.

“Prior to mobile working this data was typically collected via a paper-based system before being transcribed on to central systems, which was both time consuming and left databases vulnerable to errors, as well as potentially being unsecure. Mobile working will cut out these problems,” said King.

Clinicians will be able to collect data on their portable devices regardless of whether they are in an area with connectivity, as the data will automatically sync the next time a signal is available.

The trust expects to roll-out the first three apps before April. They can run on Android, BlackBerry, Windows and Apple operating systems. The trust is using Android devices while it waits for its Apple enterprise development license.

King said that having technology like that was incredibly useful as “it’s meant we’ve been able to get on and develop apps while we assess which device and operating system best fits clinicians’ needs and budgets.”

“The next stage of this project is to test run our first three apps, but initial feedback from clinical staff has been incredibly positive, with people quick to recognise the advantages mobile working can bring,” said King.

Testing should be completed by 11 March with a full roll out expected before the start of the new financial year.

Patient data is heavily encrypted and will not be permanently stored on the devices so that confidentiality is protected.

The CQUIN framework, introduced in 2009, makes parts of a trust’s income conditional depending on improvements in quality and innovation in areas of care specified by local commissioning groups.