Three sites to be IDCR exemplars

Three sites are set to become exemplars in digital record integration between health and social care by March 2015, with support from the Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards: Technology Fund.

The ‘Integrated Digital Care Records’ Rapid Accelerator programme is identified as one of five key programmes for achieving an IDCR and is discussed in new terms of reference for the IDCR Strategy Group.

The document does not name the sites, but says three applicants for the technology fund are seeking to push digital record integration between health and social care by March 2015.

“We will work with them to achieve their ambitions to provide an exemplar to other health and social care economies of how it can be achieved and lessons to be learned,” it says.

The IDCR group is a sub-group of the Informatics Services Commissioning Group and the terms of reference are being presented to its meeting today.

“We want local health and care services to use digital technology to ensure that vital, patient-related information can be viewed by an authorised user in a joined up manner,” the IDCR vision statement says.

This will “transform clinical effectiveness and outcomes and reduce the administrative burden on frontline staff”, it adds.

Other programmes listed as building blocks for achieving an IDCR over the next few years are: the £510m capital investment promised by the two technology funds; the Summary Care Record programme; the NHS Open Source Foundation; and the Local Service Provider Delivery Programme.

NHS England has already announced that £20m of the first £250m technology fund will go towards open source projects.

The aim of the NHS Open Source Foundation is to, “work with open source technology providers to create products that help NHS providers to achieve the objective of safe, digital record keeping, with NHS Number as primary identifier, using open source technology”.

The LSP contracts are due to conclude in late 2015 and early 2016 and are currently managed through separate governance. The terms of reference say the plan is for post-LSP activities to come under the strategic governance of the IDCR Strategy group.

The document explains that it is not the plan to build a central database of patient records, but that the SCR “provides an important stepping stone towards IDCR”, as a link between urgent and primary care.

A number of “enabling strategies” for the programme of work are also outlined.

The paper says that local ownership will drive the vision for IDCR, but in order to achieve integration across organisational boundaries, the systems chosen must adhere to consistent standards and architecture. The ISCG Trust Development Authority will oversee this enabling strategy.

The group will also engage with the market, as relations between the health sector and the IT industry have been strained over recent years.

“If we are to achieve our vision of a vibrant supplier market, drawn from an international field, we need to broker relationships between buyers and suppliers and improve understanding on both sides,” it says.

The programme has already launched a ‘communities of practice’ website to allow organisations to learn from others who are further along the digital journey and a Clinical Digital Maturity Index – developed by EHI Intelligence – to provide a benchmark and ongoing audit of progress towards digital maturity.

This audit will be run every six months and will be developed to include progress towards integration in social care, mental health, community provision and primary care.

The IDCR Strategy Group is chaired by NHS England’s director of strategic systems and technology, Beverley Bryant.