Wales awards Hicom with national contract for paediatric diabetes management
Hicom’s Twinkle set to standardise service delivery and improve patient care
The All-Wales Diabetes Implementation Group has commissioned Hicom’s paediatric diabetes patient management solution, Twinkle, for all NHS Wales paediatric diabetes units.
Acting on behalf of the Welsh Government, and in partnership with The Children and Young People’s Wales Diabetes Network and Brecon Group, the announcement comes as new research shows there are about 31,500 children and young people under the age of 19 in the UK with diabetes.
A universal approach across Wales will undoubtedly aid checking of the Brecon register accuracy and, in time, will enable units to benchmark against each other
The new national project, being funded by the Welsh Government and the Diabetes Implementation Group, aims to ensure that paediatric diabetes units across Wales are able to collect patient information in a consistent manner.
NHS Wales comprises of seven health boards, of which six are currently offering paediatric diabetes services.
Building on the success of Cardiff and Vale, ABMU, and Anuerin Bevan, which are already using Hicom’s Twinkle, the remaining three will now have Twinkle implemented resulting in total national coverage across 14 separate sites.
All units will be using the fully-hosted web-based application, which provides the standardisation of key care processes, data gathering, and reporting. This will result in a dramatic reduction in reliance on paper based records.
In addition, Twinkle will make it easier and quicker for healthcare practitioners to measure performance and collate the information required for the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA).
Our diabetes team in Swansea has been using Hicom’s Twinkle.Net for nearly two years now and it has transformed the day-to-day working of the team, our ability to understand our clinic data, and how we generate our submission for the NPDA
Dr Christopher Bidder, consultant paediatrician and clinical lead for the Children and Young People's Wales Diabetes Network and Brecon Group, said: “I am delighted to see Twinkle being rolled out to paediatric units across Wales thanks to the funding agreed by the Welsh Government and the Diabetes Implementation Group.
“Our diabetes team in Swansea has been using Hicom’s Twinkle.Net for nearly two years now and it has transformed the day-to-day working of the team, our ability to understand our clinic data, and how we generate our submission for the NPDA.
“A universal approach across Wales will undoubtedly aid checking of the Brecon register accuracy and, in time, will enable units to benchmark against each other.”
Jon Elburn, product manager for clinical information systems at Hicom, said: “We are delighted to be extending the usage of Twinkle to the whole of Wales.
“Standardisation across the principality will ensure that the quality of care is matched by the level of data collection in a uniform manner.
“Long term this will allow Hicom to aggregate the information at a national level and, through the use of analytics tools, we will work with clinicians to provide real insight into the patient experience across Wales.”