NHSE calls on trusts to update CDMI data

NHS England has urged trusts to check and update the information in the Clinical Digital Maturity Index developed by EHI Intelligence.

The commissioning board has supported the development of the CDMI, which is a nine-stage model of the administrative and clinical systems in use by every acute trust in England, and secured free access for NHS organisations.

The model was launched at EHI Live 2013, but trusts are being given until 24 January 2014 to re-validate the data. After this, the CDMI will be used to calculate a new ranking of trusts, based on the systems that they have in place.

An initial ranking, based on information collected through Freedom of Information Act Requests and sample checking, found just three NHS trusts had all of the systems included within the CDMI; King’s College Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital; and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals.

Paul Rice, the head of technology strategy for NHS England, said: “The CDMI will be the most up to date and accurate record of progress towards the delivery of an integrated digital care record for the NHS.

“It is essential that the information recorded about your organisation is accurate and comprehensive. Please assist us by validating the information currently captured, pointing out any inconsistencies or inaccuracies.”

The CDMI has been developed by EHI Intelligence over three years. It is based on information in the EHI Intelligence Database and dedicated rounds of data collection about the installed base of 27 clinical and administrative systems of increasing levels of sophistication and complexity.

A report published at EHI Live 2013 assigned a score to the installed base of systems at each trust, enabling an initial ranking to be drawn up.

Trusts are now being given eight weeks to re-validate the data. Any NHS employee who has an NHS email address has free access to the CDMI, paid for by NHS England.

Trusts should go to the CDMI page on EHI Intelligence, view their individual trust profile, and email EHI Intelligence for an update e-form.

Revisions to the data should be sent to the EHI Intelligence team, which can also answer questions about the model, which will be developed further once the current round of development is complete.

At the moment, the model only covers the presence of systems, but further iterations will look at the extent to which they have been rolled out and used. The CDMI will also be extended to cover other kinds of NHS organisations.

“We will be working in the coming months to extend the scope and scale of the information captured by the CDMI – incorporating community, mental health and learning disabilities services – and capturing how organisations are progressing to deliver a paperless NHS,” Rice said. “We will be back in touch.”

In its first iteration, the CDMI provides valuable insights into where trusts have gaps in their systems that regulators, commissioners, trusts and their suppliers can consider how best to fill.

In future, it will be used to track the progress of digital initiatives in the NHS, and to encourage trusts to learn about the best routes to EPR open to them.

Karl Grundy, EHI’s head of intelligence, said: “The CDMI is establishing, for the first time, reliable benchmarks for the adoption of electronic patient record and related digital healthcare technologies in the NHS in England.

“It is essential that the information in it is as complete and accurate as possible, and we look forward to working with trusts over the next few weeks to validate the information that we hold about them.”

To validate their information, trusts should go to the CDMI page on EHI Intelligence, view their individual trust profile, and email the EHI Intelligence team for an update e-form.