Shared care planning solution deployed across London

NHS South West London has worked in partnership with Better to deploy a shared care planning application.

The Urgent Care Plan enables people living in London to have their care and support preferences shared digitally with health and care professionals across the capital.

This will ensure that patients’ wishes and plans for urgent care are taken into consideration at the point of care.

The new technology, provided by Better, provider of the openEHR data platform, also enables the future development of multiple care plans and digital services that can be designed to support people with a variety of different health and wellbeing needs and conditions, such as those with learning disabilities, mental health problems, frailty, and asthma.

The Pan London Strategic Commissioning Group (SCG) selected Better as its digital development partner in December 2021 and the partnership working between the NHS in London, Better, and multiple vendors of electronic patient records established foundations to develop a dynamic, integrated care planning solution to deliver joined-up care for Londoners.

By establishing a platform of persistent data with openEHR and creating a low-code environment for health and care professionals, we have transformed London’s digital care planning services, and we are looking forward to seeing the Better platform used to support Londoners, their families, and professionals alike

Better selected partners Atos, ReStart, CareIS, XYCare, and FreshEHR to support with the successful deployment of the solution.

It supports London’s health and care system that includes 40 NHS trusts and 1,400 general practices, serving a population of more than 10 million people.

By adopting an openEHR data platform across the region, health and care providers can access information in real time, contribute towards a single care plan, and make use of a standard set of tools that can be deployed at the point of care.

And the health data that can be accessed through other platforms, such as patient-facing apps and personal health records, is also being used to support research and to encourage citizens to take greater ownership of their care by allowing them to create and amend care plans.

Gary McAllister, London chief technology officer at OneLondon, said: “Across London our vision is to deliver joined-up health and care to our population, which is made possible by the London Care Record and the Urgent Care Plan.

“Patient care often involves teams of professionals working across different organisations and disciplines, such as GP practices, hospitals, care homes, and hospices, so our primary consideration was to find a solution that enabled flexible information sharing.

“Better’s OpenEHR platform ticked all of the boxes and clinicians across London are now benefiting from being able to provide safe and holistic care, with the information they need available in the right place, at the right time.”

Better’s platform works by standardising the way information is captured, providing end users with tools, capabilities, and data modelling provision, while supporting other services to share information more readily.

Underpinned by the open health data and low-code tools, the shared care plan reduces the burden of duplication, improves accessibility, and facilitates the creation of shared care plans for a variety of clinical pathways, including end-of-life care, psychiatry, mental health, diabetes, cancer, and frailty.

Matt Cox, managing director of Better UK, said: “Working with OneLondon, we are proud to have unlocked the ability for health and care organisations to build dynamic care planning applications and share data in real-time across the capital.

From giving patients greater ownership of their care, to saving health and care professionals time and providing them with instant access to the information they need; the shared care planning solution will provide region-wide benefits for decades to come

“By establishing a platform of persistent data with openEHR and creating a low-code environment for health and care professionals, we have transformed London’s digital care planning services, and we are looking forward to seeing the Better platform used to support Londoners, their families, and professionals alike.

“From giving patients greater ownership of their care, to saving health and care professionals time and providing them with instant access to the information they need; the shared care planning solution will provide region-wide benefits for decades to come.”

Throughout the project, Better has worked in close partnership with multiple partners, including South West London and InterSystems to migrate all existing care plans to the new platform, making sure patients and clinicians were unaffected by the transition and ensuring health and care professionals can continue to use the same systems they use today, with seamless single sign-on and patient context when accessing the Urgent Care Plan.

And, thanks to the collaboration from EMIS, TPP SystmOne, Adastra, Cleric, and Cerner HIE; London Urgent care plans can now be accessed directly through these electronic patient record systems, without needing to login separately.

Stuart Crichton, chief clinical information officer at the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “The availability of up-to-date medical information ensures we can make informed clinical decisions in an emergency without delay.

“This might include information about a person’s medications and advance decisions about treatments, such as CPR, which our ambulance teams can access before they arrive.

“As a result, people and their families can feel assured their wishes will always be considered if they are in an emergency situation, with information accessible across the entire patient journey, from when an ambulance or 111 is called through to their care in an emergency department, or at home in the community.”