The Go-Between Issue 105 April 2012 Information for Information Users

http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.13667
The Go-Between
Information for Information Users
The Go-Between would like to hear from potential
contributors. Articles should be on health informatics
related matters and around 250-400 words in length. Copy
deadline for Issue 106 is 20 May 2012.
For contributions etc. please write to the Editor
(address on back page).
____________________________________________________
In This Issue
Issue 105 April 2012
An EPS Improvement Group has been set-up for PCTs to
share their experiences and best practice. A survey of
EPS front line users were asked to identify how users find
Release 1 in practice and how they feel about Release 2.
The results have been used to inform guidance and
communications.
More information:
www.cfh.nhs.uk/eps.
______________________________________________
Assessing PM Maturity
Diary
Electronic Prescription Service
Knowledge Harvesting
News in Brief
Offender Health
PACS Beyond 2013
RiO: Beyond 2015
_______________________________________________
Electronic
Prescription Service
The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) allows
prescribers working in primary care settings to generate
and transmit electronic prescriptions using their computer
system. The electronic prescription is sent to the Electronic
Prescription Service, where it can then be downloaded by a
dispenser.
Patients have the option to 'nominate' a
dispensing contractor to receive their electronic
prescription automatically.
In 2012 EPS Release 2 is being rolled out. Four years ago
the rollout of Release 1 began. This involved adding
barcodes to prescriptions. A pharmacist or dispensing
appliance contractor could then scan the barcode and the
prescription details will appear on the screen. Release 1 is
almost complete with only a small proportion of prescribing
and dispensing sites still not able to use EPS Release 1
EPS Release 2 enables the GP or practice prescriber to
sign and send prescriptions electronically to the place
nominated, and send electronic reimbursement claims to
the NHS Prescription Service.
Last year six pharmacy and two GP systems gained full roll
out approval and almost 140,000 patients chose to
nominate a dispensing contractor.
The benefits of EPS include providing clinicians with a tool
that makes them more productive, enabling them to
provide better patient care and increasing back office
efficiency in both the prescribing and dispensing settings.
Harvesting knowledge. See page 3.
______________________________________________
RiO: Beyond 2015
RiO – the care record used by community and mental
health providers in London and the South is provided via a
contract between BT and the Department of Health. The
contract expires in 2015, although there is provision for a
one year extension.
Organisations in London are coming together to form a
Consortium to share the procurement of replacement
systems. It is proposed that a Framework Agreement is
put in place. The intention of the Agreement is that it will
provide a small number of accredited suppliers of
replacement systems, and also for services such as
hosting the system, service management and integration
services.
Once the Framework is in place organisations in the
Consortium will be able to conduct “mini” tendering
exercises against the Framework. It is likely that across
London and the South there will be more than one
replacement system.
There will be a full OJEU procurement to establish the
Framework Agreement. OJEU – the Official Journal of the
Continued on page 2.
Continued from page 1.
European Union – is where large public sector
procurements have to be advertised by law. The process
to be followed is determined by procurement law, policy
and best practice.
Work has started on a set of requirements that suppliers
will need to meet, that is a specification of the system and
services that are being procured. A series of workshops
for clinicians are taking place during forthcoming weeks.
The intention is to place the OJEU advertisement in June
and have the Framework Agreement in place by the
summer of 2013. This will enable the many organisations
to move from the current contract RiO in an orderly fashion.
______________________________________________
Assessing Project
Management Maturity
Sound project management is essential to enable
organisations to deliver the many changes and new
developments demanded of care providers and care
commissioners. Project Management standards – such as
PRINCE2 – are applied to varying degrees of maturity.
A national study of informatics (IT) project management
maturity has recently commenced with the pilot of a simple
self-assessment questionnaire in the Yorkshire and the
Humber Region. The survey was completed by NHS
organisations in the region during March and the survey is
now accessible to other NHS organisations in England who
are being asked to complete the survey during May (see
link below). The survey is to be followed by a number of
facilitated detailed review sessions with a small number of
organisations to help identify key lessons to be learnt when
assessing project management maturity. A more detailed
self-assessment process is also being developed and will
be used by this study before it becomes available to the
rest of the NHS later this year. The findings of the study
are expected to be published in late summer and will
support the development of tools and other products to
improve project management practice in the NHS.
The study is being jointly managed by the Portfolio,
Programme & Project Management (P3M) Advisory Group
to the Department of Health and the Department of
Health’s Informatics - Policy and Planning Directorate. The
results will also support an academic study into informatics
project management maturity currently being undertaken
by Ian White, Chair of the P3M Advisory Group. Further
information on the study is available from Ian, see e-mail
address below.
Survey:
http://www.survey.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/s3/pjm3
Contact: [email protected]
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Offender Health
In 1868 John Stacy, a lad of 12, was placed in the dock at
Brighton for embezzling 11s 6d. He pleaded guilty to the
charge, convicted and imprisoned for one month with hard
labour. These days justice is less harsh. But there is also
recognition of the role healthcare plays on the rehabilitation
of offenders, especially mental health services.
Offender healthcare, as with other health services, requires
good information systems to support the delivery of quality
care.
The Offender Health IT programme of NHS Connecting for
Health (CfH) has been responsible for completing the rollout of a national clinical IT system to all prisons (both
public sector and contracted-out) across England, plus
immigration removal centres (IRCs) where healthcare is
commissioned by the NHS.
Today, the national clinical IT system is being used in all
133 English prisons and three IRCs by more than 7000
healthcare staff. The system is based on a leading GP
system and has been specially tailored to meet the needs
of prisons, encompassing functionality in areas such as:
admitting prisoners; transferring prisoners; prescribing and
medication
administration;
clinical
templates;
administration; and security.
Having a single, national clinical IT system for prisons
delivers a number of benefits. As well as ensuring
healthcare staff have 24/7 access to prisoners' medical
records it also provides them with a quick, easy and
secure way to share prisoners' health records between
prisons as prisoners transfer.
Since the end of the roll-out, the scope of the programme
has increased to cover not just prisons but other areas of
the clinical justice system.
The Offender Health IT work is in support of a crossGovernment Health and Criminal Justice Programme
being led by the Offender Health directorate at the
Department of Health. This aims to improve health and
social care outcomes for adults and children in contact
with the criminal justice system, focusing on early
intervention, liaison and diversion from criminal justice to
therapy, and is a key part of the drive to reduce reoffending and health inequalities.
Current priorities for the Offender Health IT programme
are as follows:

Progressing improvements to the national clinical IT
system for prisons, including the deployment of
contracted
releases
and
other
enhanced
functionality.

Supporting local NHS organisations and prison
healthcare staff to use the full functionality of the
national clinical IT system and exploit its benefits.

Supporting the take-up of other national systems and
services in prisons, and the adoption of smartcards.

Investigating potential improvements in health
information flows between prisons and other care
delivery settings.

Investigating IT support for healthcare delivery in
other areas of the criminal justice system such as
police custody suites and liaison and diversion
schemes as the business requirements for these
areas become clear.
The NHS Number is now available for use in all prisons in
England. Although the use of NHS Number is not
mandated, the provision of healthcare can be streamlined
by the use of NHS Number, especially when a prisoner
requires secondary care (e.g. hospital treatment). Many
prisoners with complex health needs cannot always be
dealt with solely by prison health teams and will require
treatment in an NHS hospital.
Additionally, using a single identifier allows continuity of
care for the patient from when they arrive in prison, to
when they return back to the community. The use of the
NHS Number therefore enables prison health teams to
ensure prisoners have a single, detailed and continuous
healthcare record.
To assist with the use of the NHS Number in prisons some
guidance has recently been published.
More information:
http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandser
vices/offender
NHS Number Guidance:
http://nhscfhwwwebulletins.createsend2.com/t/r/l/dijutrk/iridddlt/h/
______________________________________________
Knowledge Harvesting
T. H. Davenport and L. Prusak of the Harvard Business
School described “knowledge” thus:
"Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values,
contextual information, and expert insight that provides a
basis for evaluating and incorporating new experiences
and information. It originates and is applied in the mind of
individuals. In organisations, it often becomes embedded
not only in documents or repositories but also in
organisational routines, processes, and practices."
Effective knowledge sharing enables organisation to thrive
and to achieve their business objectives. This is achieved
by:

connecting people together to create, share and
exploit expertise and knowledge more effectively

connecting people to the information they need to
develop and apply their knowledge in new ways

connecting people to the tools they need to process
knowledge
Gaps in knowledge hinder the delivery of services,
decision-making, progress and innovation, and at its worst
can result in harm. Through transferring best practices,
capturing lessons learned, reusing designs, enabling
collaboration and access to expertise, sharing and
managing knowledge has become a key competency in
modern organisations.
Knowledge harvesting is just one tool or technique in
creating and sharing knowledge, and it is a term used to
describe the process of identifying and retaining the key
knowledge that an organisation needs to be managed in a
systematic and proactive manner. Knowledge harvesting
is particularly helpful when an organisation is undergoing
considerable change resulting in a loss of lots of
experienced and knowledgeable staff through redundancy
or natural wastage.
The Harvesting Process
The key business processes are identified, as are the
individuals who have the associated knowledge.
Individuals who have the relevant knowledge are
interviewed and the resultant advice packaged into
knowledge assets. Tools such as mind maps can help in
the process. Essentially what is being captured is “what”
and “why”. The “what” and “why” components will include
the professional knowledge but also the soft information
only gained from experience and understanding the local
context.
The key stages in a full knowledge harvesting interview
are;
 Identification of key knowledge areas
 Confirmation of the individuals who have this key
knowledge
 Preparation for the knowledge harvest
 Knowledge harvest interview
 Initial packaging of the material
 Approval of the material by the interviewee
 Creation of the knowledge asset
 Placing of the knowledge asset on the organisation's
intranet or other location.
Lessons learned logs can be used in association with
knowledge harvesting.
Those that have used knowledge harvesting successfully
found that participation in a structured process prompted
greater handover of knowledge, particularly of tacit
knowledge that is not usually documented in a normal
handover. More useful knowledge is therefore handed
over than without participation.
But it is worth bearing in mind that knowledge harvesting
takes longer than most people anticipate. Interviewees
are usually either leaving soon or are very senior. Setting
aside sufficient time is not always easy. It is only after
completing a couple of full harvest cycles would the full
appreciation of the the amount of time that needed at each
stage become apparent.
More information:
http://nww.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/km/resources/a
ssets/knowledgeharv
______________________________________________
PACS Beyond 2013
PACS (the digital radiographical images system) has been
provided through a national contract managed by NHS
Connecting for Health (CfH).
The national contract
expires in 2013. Trusts have achieved many clinical
benefits by deploying PACS and are now addressing what
happens next.
The national PACS programme is currently working with
trusts which received PACS, RIS and image archiving via
the local service providers (LSPs), strategic health
authorities and other stakeholders to address the issue of
what will happen when the LSP contracts for these
services expire.
CfH has produced some guidance and draft documents to
support local procurements. These include:

Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) – this sets
out the information that is required to assess the
suitability of potential suppliers in terms of their
technical knowledge and experience, capability /
capacity, organisational and financial standing to
meet the requirements.

Memorandum of Information (MoI) – this provides
potential providers with sufficient information about
the
proposed
procurement
and
appropriate
background information to enable them to make an
informed decision about whether they wish to tender.

Procurement Questions – questions trusts might
consider as they formulate their procurement and
contract management strategies.

PQQ Evaluation Criteria – draft sets of criteria to be
used in assessing Pre-Qualification Questionnaires
submitted by potential suppliers.
CfH has also provided guidance to Trusts on the exit
strategy for the current contract. That is advice on the
termination arrangements in the contract and processes
for data migration and service transfer. This is obviously
important to clinical services to ensure continuity of care
and access to clinical information during the process of
moving from one contract to another, and one system to
another.
More information:
http://nww.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/pacs/beyond
______________________________________________
News in Brief
HI Staff on ESR
ESR (the Electronic Staff Record) is to be updated to allow
staff to be categorised as health informatics professionals.
In the past, informatics staff have been categorised
incorrectly under the work areas corporate, administration
or estates management.
BCS ASSIST London & SE
The London and South East Branch of ASSIST is being
revamped and is looking for new members to join the
Branch Committee to help shape professional development
in London and the South East. If you are interested please
e-mail: [email protected].
Accessing Patient Data Event
The committee for the annual Southern Institute for Health
Informatics conference are looking for expressions of
interest for their programme. The event will be held on 5
September in Portsmouth and has the theme “Your Data,
My Data, Our Data- opening up information for health and
social care”. To register an interest in contributing to the
programme or an idea, email [email protected].
IG Conference
The King's Health Partners Caldicott Group has been
organising an information governance conference since
2010. This year’s conference is on electronic health
records to consider the opportunities and challenges for
patients, clinicians and academics. It takes place 10am 2pm Friday, 18 May 2012 at Guy’s and St Thomas’
campus at London Bridge.
To register go to:
http://virtualcampus.kcl.ac.uk/khp/conference/1112/registra
tionform.aspx.
IT in Clinical Consultations
The latest in the series of BCS ASSIST Webinars, in
conjunction with BT Health, will take place on 10.30 –
11.15, Monday 30 April 2012: ‘Use of New Technology in
the Clinical Consultation Process’ featuring two eminent
clinical speakers who will discuss their experiences of
using technology to support remote patient consultations:

Professor Angus Wallace, Consultant Shoulder
Surgeon, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Professor Ricky Richardson, Consultant Paediatrician,
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS
Foundation Trust
https://cossprereg.btci.com/prereg/key.process?key=P4NM
D8KAR
Surrey Info Summer School
A Summer School for Informatics is being held at the
University of Surrey from 9 to 14 July 2012. The theme of
the Summer School is “How to use routine health data for
quality improvement and research”, and is aimed at:
Researchers: PhD, potential PhD students or researchers
using routine health data

Leaders and managers of health care organisations
wanting to improve their use of health data

Medical records staff looking to extend their skills

Public health trainees and specialists

Data analysts: In health care providers or
commissioners - Social sciences and social care
students wishing to work with health data
See: www.clininf.eu/SISS2012
Secondary Uses Service (SUS)
The Operating Framework identifies SUS as the standard
repository for performance, monitoring, reconciliation and
payments by April 2012. The NHS Information Centre has
made available a Payment by Results (PbR) Key
Performance Indicator Summary Report that aims to
highlight key measures in relation to data quality. The
report includes the percentage of invalid HRG codes
which will be key to PbR Leads and Finance Directors.
See:
www.ic.nhs.uk/services/secondary-uses-servicesus/updates-and-guidance.
Mental Health Profiles
One in four people in the UK will suffer a mental health
problem in the course of a year and the cost of mental
health problems to the economy in England have recently
been estimated at £105 billion. Treatment costs are
expected to double in the next 20 years. The Community
Mental Health Profiles (CMHP) have been produced to
give an overview of mental health risks, prevalence and
services at a local, regional and national level using an
interactive mapping tool. The data should be used to
inform commissioners of health and social care services in
their decision making, leading to the improvement of
mental health, and mental health services. There are 25
mental health indicators covering the wider determinants
of health; risk factors; levels of mental health and illness;
treatment; and outcomes. To view the CMHP see:
http://www.nepho.org.uk/cmhp/.
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Diary
30 Apr 12
BCS ASSIST: Use of Technology in
Clinical Consultation Process (Webinar)
(https://cossprereg.btci.com/prereg/key.process
?key=P4NMD8KAR)
2–3
May 12
18 May 12
HC2012 Conference, Islington, London
(http://hc2012.bcs.org/)
King's Health Partners Information
Governance Conference, London
(http://virtualcampus.kcl.ac.uk/khp/conference/1
112/registrationform.aspx)
23 May 12
HIBC: Bringing Order Out Off The Chaos
Of Global Benchmarking, London
(www.hibc.nhs.uk)
28 – 30
May 12
BCS Annual Conference, Manchester
(http://www.greenitexpo.com/)
__________________________________________________________
Address for correspondence:
The Go-Between,
c/o David Green, Director of IM&T,
SW London & St George’s MH NHS Trust,
Springfield University Hospital, Tooting,
LONDON SW17 7DJ.
[email protected]
London & South East