CHESHIRE SOCIAL CARE & HEALTH ORGANISATIONS SELECT IBM TO PROVIDE GROUND-BREAKING SINGLE ASSESSMENT PROCESS SOLUTION

• Thursday, 25 August 2005

Pleon

London, Thursday 25th August 2005: Together in partnership - Cheshire County Council, Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust (PCT), Central Cheshire PCT, Cheshire West PCT, Ellesmere Port and Neston PCT have chosen IBM, Esprit Limited and TSO to design, build and implement a pioneering electronic solution that will enable heath and social care staff to complete needs assessment of older people in Cheshire.

The Government’s requirements under the National Service Framework (NSF) for older people require person-centred care and the Single Assessment Process (SAP) is key to its delivery.

The Single Assessment Process ensures that older people are placed at the heart of assessment and care planning. It ensures that needs are assessed thoroughly, without duplication of effort between the different care agencies involved. The introduction of the SAP in Cheshire will enable Health and Social Care to deliver this.

Alan Allman, Senior IT Manager at Cheshire County Council said: “The Single Assessment Process solution implemented by IBM will have a positive impact on older people in Cheshire by standardising assessments across Health and Social Care. It will provide consistency in recording and allow information to be shared electronically across Cheshire agencies.”

“Cheshire County Council, in partnership with Cheshire Primary Care Trusts, is the first local authority to launch an IT initiative that addresses the requirements of the Single Assessment Process in a truly strategic manner,” said Christopher Wilson, Vice President, Public Sector, IBM UK. “Cheshire’s innovative approach is a resounding endorsement for the role that I.T. can play in delivering improved citizen services and public sector efficiencies.”

Commenting on the announcement, Jacqui Harvey, Chief Executive of Ellesmere Port and Neston PCT and Acting Chief Executive of Cheshire West PCT, said: “Improving the flow of patient information between the many different organisations that care for older people is a fundamental building block to streamlining the assessment process in the best interests of our patients. I am delighted that we are, together, pursuing an IT-based solution that will help us achieve this goal.”

Cheshire has chosen the internationally developed tool for needs assessment, the Minimum Data Set (MDS-HC) protocol from interRAI. This is one of a small number of tools accredited by the Department of Health. This provides decision support for assessors by automatically highlighting areas of concern and enables the creation of the care plan. In the future, as a by-product of routine assessment, the protocol will provide Cheshire with detailed information to guide resource utilisation and service planning.

For health and social care assessors, the system will enable mobile working, minimise data collection, and allow sharing of assessment information in a secure manner. A face-to-face training programme is being supported by a computer-based training package that allows assessors to build up their expertise.

The system will be accessed by health and social care practitioners through a web browser. This supports collaborative working through a shared assessment and referral workspace, in a secure and authenticated information-sharing environment. The system will enable mobile working and reduce duplication of information. Cheshire County Council and Cheshire Primary Care Trust partners will pilot the use of digital pens, notebook and tablet PCs – and other mobile devices – over the next six months, thus making home assessments easier for both workers and older people.

The system will be hosted at IBM Warwick and goes live in January 2006. Initially serving 1,000 health and social care professionals from Cheshire County Council, Cheshire Primary Care Trusts, Cheshire Hospital Trusts and the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trusts, the service will scale up on demand. IBM will provide full support including maintenance, infrastructure and helpdesk as part of a managed service approach.

The inter-agency security model approved by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (OPDM) is implemented using IBM Tivoli Access Manager software and will ensure personal details and health records are accessed and stored securely.

The Single Assessment Process
Older people are often confronted by requests for assessment information from a range of professionals from different agencies including GPs, community nurses, social workers, mental health workers and housing services.

Each agency gathers similar personal details and information about the person’s needs. Information is stored in personal profiles on separate databases or in paper files.

For older people with limited mobility and other health issues, repeating multiple interviews can be frustrating and stressful. For Social Services and Health partners, duplication of data is inefficient and the lack of co-ordination means that elderly people may not receive the most appropriate care to meet their needs.

The Single Assessment Process, introduced in the Department of Health’s National Service Framework for Older People, aims to make sure older people's care needs are assessed thoroughly and accurately, but without information being needlessly duplicated by different agencies. Generating a single summary of all relevant data from each professional, working across agencies, the process will provide a clear view of the individual’s care needs. The result will be an improvement in the assessment of older people and more efficient working practices for all professionals concerned.

Note to editors
Cheshire Primary Care Trusts comprise Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust; Central Cheshire Primary Care Trust; Cheshire West Primary Care Trust; Ellesmere Port & Neston Primary Care Trust.
About IBM:
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com
About Esprit Limited
Esprit Limited’s solutions support information publishing and knowledge management by transforming and reproducing the vast wealth of content held by and available to an organisation through a highly usable dynamic, profitable and compelling web presence. Esprit delivers comprehensive and affordable information management solutions based upon unique meta-modelling techniques that enable organisations to seamlessly organise, categorise, link and access real-time data across entire business processes.
www.esprit-is.com

About TSO
TSO is the largest publisher in the UK by volume, publishing over 15,000 titles a year and providing a comprehensive range of document and publishing services. Privatised from HMSO (now OPSI) in 1996, TSO has a 200-year inheritance of secure, no-fail delivery as publisher to Her Majesty's Government and Parliament and in more recent years has become publisher for more commercial organisations. This heritage ensures TSO have an unrivalled understanding of the processes required when disseminating official and regulatory information.
http://www.tso.co.uk/

About interRAI
interRAI is a collaborative network of researchers in over 20 countries committed to improving health care for persons who are elderly, frail, or disabled. interRAI’s goal is to promote evidence-based clinical practice and policy decisions through the collection and interpretation of high quality data about the characteristics and outcomes of persons served across a variety of health and social services settings.
www.interrai.org

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