CSC chosen for Trafford centre

CSC has been chosen to deliver a first of type patient care co-ordination centre in Trafford going live in the summer.

The centre, developed by the NHS Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group, will use patient-level data flows across primary, secondary and tertiary care settings to improve patient and clinician access to services.

The CCG says the centre will also improve its work on risk stratification, allowing it to assess trends and population data to see where there is most demand in the healthcare system.

Gina Lawrence, the CCG’s chief operating officer, told EHI News that the organisation spent two years developing its plans for the centre to address the growing need for better communication and integration across different health sectors.

“As more services are put into the community, it becomes harder for people to navigate around them and use them efficiently and effectively because there are lots of different services and different providers.”

Lawrence said the centre will track all movement of patients through the healthcare system, allowing the CCG to undertake risk stratification and flag issues to be addressed.

“This will wrap clinical services around people…so we can look at trends and population data within care pathways and see what the real demand is on the system. It’s like an air traffic control system, and it could cut lot of waste out of system.”

Lawrence said the centre will also act as “one way in” for patients and health professionals, “signposting and directing” them to relevant services and clinical pathways.

Paul Hulme, Trafford’s associate director of corporate services and organisational development told EHI News that the CCG will also develop a clinical portal to view information about patients, with planning to develop a patient portal for remote access to their records also underway.

Hulme said the biggest challenge facing the project is the wide range of IT systems and infrastructure used by providers in the Trafford area, as well as the need for cultural change amongst health professionals.

“This is about whole system change, and we need to be more clear about how that will work through in terms of change management and how the centre will work into the wider picture.”

Lawrence said CSC was chosen after a two-year specification and procurement process for its ability to match up with the CCG’s vision.

“All the way through, it’s fair to say that CSC have had very innovative ideas, and they got the vision of what we are trying to do very early on.”

She said the CCG is currently working on a memorandum of understanding to allow data sharing between organisations, with plans for the centre to launch in the summer.

Philippe Houssiau, CSC’s vice president of UK healthcare, said the centre “will set a new standard of care coordination for the Trafford population”.

The company is working with the CCG to design and configure the system for the centre.