Technology plays a big part in the way people manage their everyday lives.
In Walsall we are embracing the use of technology in enabling people to take control and manage their own health, care and well-being needs as well as allowing us to improve the way we deliver services to meet the needs of the local population.
This includes finding new ways to share information between different health and care providers to enable safer, more joined-up care. It also means using digital technology to create new ways for patients to access advice, support and care.
We know however, that technology is not the answer for everyone. Some people don’t know how to use computers or smartphones and not everybody has access to the internet.
For those who would like to use digital services but cannot access them for whatever reason we aim to find ways to support you.
For those that don’t want to use technology rest assured our workforce will still be there in person if you need them – using digital and technology is just one approach to addressing the challenges we face.
As we continue to develop and grow our digital offer we hope the people of Walsall will find it easier and more convenient to access health and well-being support services online.
You can find out more about how we using technology to improve outcomes for the people of Walsall below.
There are lots of different clinical computer systems across Walsall.
They all hold clinical information about patients who have used services provided by their GP, at a local hospital, community healthcare, social services or mental health teams.
Each record may hold slightly different information about a patient or individual using a particular service.
When people visit different organisations, for different aspects of their health or care needs, their records don’t always go with them and the person delivering the care can’t always access the most up to date information.
This means people often have to repeat their medical history and the professionals spend a lot of time checking vital information such as current and past treatments, test results and allergies with patients themselves or with other care providers. It also creates the potential for important information to be missed making it harder to provide good quality and safe care.
In Walsall we are creating a shared cared record to help us deliver a seamless and joined up service.
This is a secure way of allowing a professional to access to the most up to date and relevant information so the person they are caring for receives the best possible care in the quickest possible time wherever they are.
We have also been working with the people who deliver services in Wolverhampton so we can share records across both areas. This means anyone who receives care in Wolverhampton will have their information accessed in the same was as they would in Walsall.
In order to achieve this all the organisations in the partnership have signed an agreement that clearly sets out the reason for sharing data and their role and responsibilities in ensuring they are meeting legal requirements to keep the information safe.
Work is now underway to upload the relevant information onto the new shared system.
We plan to run a pilot of the system in the summer of 2021 with a full roll out expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
People who are at the end-of-life often come into contact with lots of different health and care professionals.
Treatment choices, how and where care is delivered and the preferred place of death is key to providing personalised end-of-life care and these often change during the last months and weeks of life.
It can be difficult to share information across organisations about an individual’s care in a way which is safe, up-to-date and timely and reflects their latest wishes.
Improving end-of-life care is really important to the partnership and one of the ways we are aiming to do this is through an Electronic Palliative Care Co-ordination System (EPaCCS).
This is a system that allows the recording and sharing of a person’s information and their preferences for care at the end-of-life.
It can be accessed and updated 24/7 between all of the key people involved in the individuals care wherever they are in the country.
It then provides an easily accessible view of the information needed to make sure, where possible, a person’s wishes are carried out at the end of their life.
We are currently running a pilot scheme to test the sytem with plans to fully implement it 2021/22.
