NHS Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group picks Orion Health for integrated care records

NHS Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group has signed a deal with Orion Health to develop an integrated digital care record (IDCR).

The IDCR is being piloted by a rapid response team that has been set up to support people at home after a fall or deterioration in their health in an effort to prevent unnecessary visits to hospital and repetition of information.

The multi-disciplinary team, including a range of clinicians and social care workers, was set up in January and takes referrals from the ambulance service and local GPs. In its first seven months, it helped 207 people; 83% of whom were able to stay at home with its support.

Debbie Aitchison, head of strategy and delivery for intermediate care, said it had been difficult to share vital information prior to the IDCR.

“The team have had to go back to using some paper because the different health and care IT systems don’t talk to each other,” she added.

“The IDCR should change all that. It has really highlighted just how important technology is to a service like this.”

If the proof of concept is successful, the IDCR is likely to be extended to other services as Doncaster develops a new model of joined-up care across the borough.

Andy Clayton, head of health informatics, said, “Like other health communities, we were asked to draw up a local digital roadmap. That confirmed what we already knew – which is that there is not much information sharing going on in Doncaster.

“In response, we created a plan for a local IDCR. We wanted to run a proof of concept so we formed an alliance with the intermediate care team, which had already discovered how problems with information sharing can hold up the transformation of care.

“If the proof of concept shows that the IDCR is robust and that it adds value, we will extend it to other care settings.

“We already have clinicians wanting something similar for children’s services, urgent care and end-of-life care.”

NHS Doncaster CCG used the London Procurement Partnership framework to find a supplier for the IDCR. It picked Orion Health because it could demonstrate that it had already delivered effective information sharing projects in the UK and best met the requirements.

These include a clinical portal that is in use at the neighbouring Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a shared care record that is being implemented by NHS Dorset CCG.

In its first phase, the IDCR project is integrating systems from the local acute trust (which uses the CaMIS patient administration system, Symphony A&E system, and JAC pharmacy system), community services (SystmOne Community), local authority (Carenotes), GPs (EMIS Web and SystmOne) and out-of-hours service (Adastra).

The initial deal was signed in June and covers licenses for 350 staff. The IDCR is expected to go live early next year and will be evaluated for six months.

Gary Birks from Orion Health said: “We are pleased to have been chosen to support this innovative service, which will help Doncaster deliver better care for patients through an efficient health service.

“Orion Health remains at the forefront of delivering complex service integration projects with multiple health and social care stakeholders and we are looking forward to working with Doncaster CCG to help deliver the planned service benefits.

“We expect commissioners and healthcare providers to continue growing their ambitions for integrated care services and we are excited to add Doncaster CCG to our list of recent partners including Dorset County Council.”