Wandsworth Borough Council - Single Assessment Process for Older People
Situation
Wandsworth PCT and Council were endeavouring to meet the requirements of the national service framework for Older People’s services in provision of a joined up IT solution to record health and social care information on their service users and patients.
Wandsworth PCT and Council asked Charteris to support them in an investigation of potential technical solutions for the delivery of the Single Assessment Process and a pilot of the selected solution.
Solution
- A clear business change and communications plan, to share the benefits of the system in terms of both electronic delivery and practice improvement, and deliver a balanced communication to staff involved, via a variety of channels.
- An information sharing agreement for the two organisations, formalised by the two Caldicott Guardians.
- A full training programme, including practice issues, joint working requirements, IT training and an ongoing support process.
In October 2004, our work culminated in a pilot of the solution going live, seeing assessment and care planning information shared between the two agencies in an electronic format. A format that allowed social and health care staff to add to assessments and case notes, without having to duplicate the recording of basic details.
Following this success the PCT and Council asked Charteris to further support the project with the introduction of a mobile solution using laptops with 3G cards. This second phase of the pilot project was delivered in April 2005 allowing users to link directly to the Framework application from patient’s homes or other off site locations, and update or refer to data in real time.
Fleur Norwood, Clinical Development Manager commented: "Charteris has helped us deliver a solution that enables our staff to get a comprehensive picture of a patient’s care, not only from a fixed location, but also whilst with patients in their own homes. A great step forward for delivering joined up care for our community".