Southern ClusterImproving Healthcare through IT

John WillshereRegional Implementation Director

Southern Cluster

Why an IT Strategy?

• Alignment to the NHS needs• Restorative work essential

– EPR & derivations since early 1990s

• Lots of good practice out there• The challenge of new thinking

Context

• Trusts– Most systems do not support the movement of

information between buildings and departments

– Several records often created for the same patient

Context

• Primary Care– Most individual practices have their

own IT applications and databases– Patient records are not easily transferred to

other practices or care providers– Development and effective implementation of

care pathways is inhibited– Paper-based records delay modernisation and

the delivery of National Service Frameworks

Context

The history of NPfIT

Sept 1998

Jan 2001

June 2002

Jan 2004

Oct 2002

Aims

• Common IT & information infrastructure for the core of patient care

• To make this successful, we must:– make information central to the running of

excellent healthcare– overcome prejudice that IT has little or nothing

to do with good healthcare– commit real resources to this venture– invest in an enhanced infrastructure to support

the NHS

Key Projects

QMAS

SPINE

NHS CRS

PACS

ETP

N3

250,000 employees

Population: > 13 million

154 Trusts

Progress to date

• Approach– National programme, local

implementation;• grounded in SHA, LHCs and Trusts

– Phased, targeted and realistic• Success comes from maximising what

we can do as soon as we can do it

Progress to date

• Challenges– Ongoing implementation negotiation– Due diligence– Contract realignment– Matching contract deliverables to

demand in fair way– Working to bring as much

functionality forward as possible

What’s happening in the South

• Choose and Book• IDX Carecast• The Common Solution Project• PACS

What’s happening in the South

• Choose and Book– Early adopters in IOW and Surrey– Learning experience– Roll out planning underway

What’s happening in the South

What’s happening in the South

• IDX Carecast– IDX functionality to be implemented in over 60

Trusts in the South in 2005– Urgent replacements for aged legacy– Lead time to prepare means work is starting

now– Thorough readiness assessments– Risk management– Deployed across health communities– Compliant with ‘full release’ within 12 months– Locally run projects building on extant

demand

What’s happening in the South

What’s happening in the South

What’s happening in the South

What’s happening in the South

What’s happening in the South

What’s happening in the South

The Common Solution Project– IDX Carecast is the cornerstone of the solution– Common & equal approach for both the South &

London• single governance board • delivery of the ‘functionality bundles’ in line with

contract• covers all aspects of the lifecycle including

design, testing & deployment• NPfIT will manage the interfaces with the

National Spine• Design groups comprising of staff from London

and South

What’s happening in the South

• PACS– Business cases and planning now– Some pump priming funds from NPfIT– Effectively ‘core’, but predominantly

locally funded from benefits– Immediate implementation programme– Legacy management critical– Significant and tangible benefits

What’s happening in the South

Summary

• NPfIT is a key enabler for change• We need to ensure that benefits are delivered

for– Our organisations– Patients– Clinicians and other staff

• The cluster has allocated over £20 million to move the implementation effort forward this financial year

• Critical for the delivery of the NHS Improvement Plan

• Implementation preparation already started

Southern ClusterImproving Healthcare through IT

John WillshereRegional Implementation Director

Southern Cluster