Cwm Taf Morgannwg to drive Digital Hospital agenda
The digital health solution will help in achieving Digital Hospital agenda by improving visibility of clinical information and enhance patient care
The digital health solution will help in achieving Digital Hospital agenda by improving visibility of clinical information and enhance patient care
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (Cwm Taf Morgannwg), one of the South Wales’ largest employers with almost 13,500 employees, is aiming to digitise over 300,000 patient records and 127 million images over the next two years, as part of its Digital Hospital agenda.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg has signed a five-year contract with Civica, which will implement its cloud-based digital health platform Cito.
The Health Board provides primary, community, hospital and mental health services to more than 450,000 people living in the three County Boroughs of Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taf in South Wales.
David Roots, Executive Director, Health & Care, Civica commented: “We’re very pleased to be working in partnership with Cwm Taf Morgannwg as it moves to our Cito platform. With its determination to drive digital innovation in integrated health and care, we’re excited to support the Board’s vision to deliver paperless services at the point of care, support digital transformation and ultimately enhance patient experience.”
Cwm Taf Morgannwg has faced the issue of ongoing growth of health records (averaging annual net growth of 24,000 records) as well as rising paper-handling costs and limited document storage space. Currently, paper records for the three acute hospitals and five community hospitals and clinics under Cwm Taf Morgannwg’s management are transported site-to-site, involving a large employee base and growing transport costs.
An integrated digital health platform will help drive Digital Hospital agenda by improving the structuring and management of patient data and allowing clinicians to access and edit up-to-date clinical information from anywhere, at any time.
By providing enhanced visibility and enabling greater flexibility around health and care records, clinicians both at Cwm Taf Morgannwg and from the wider Welsh health network will be able to view and share patient information more effectively, leading to better decision making and improved outcomes for patients.
The Cito platform provides real-time, accurate information available at the point of care delivery, allowing clinicians to ensure the best outcomes for patients. This is improved by enhancing the flow of information between clinicians in multiple NHS disciplines. It also removes the need for paper notes which could represent a data breach risk.
Civica also plans to assist Cwm Taf Morgannwg with the set-up of a local scanning facility, in turn providing jobs for the local community.
John Palmer, Chief Operating Officer for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, said: “We are committed to improving the ways we work to benefit both our staff and patients. Our plans to digitise patient records will have enormous clinical benefits and are a key part of our strategy to use technology to drive forward innovation across the Health Board.
“We have already achieved a significant amount after consolidating 1.2 million records into one Hub from 38 sites in the past five years. Now, working with Civica, we are able to move to the second phase of the project to digitise all patient records. This is a really exciting piece of work and I look forward to seeing the benefits that will come as a result.”
Meanwhile, £22.7m funding has been allocated towards delivering a ‘Healthier Wales’ towards health and social care projects, according to an announcement on June 9.
The money will be used to expand successful pilot projects across Cwm Taf and Bridgend to provide greater choice and independence for individuals, whilst reducing pressure on social care, GP surgeries and hospitals. Each proposal being supported by Welsh Government funding should improve people’s experience of care and support the ambition to provide more care closer to home.
Vaughan Gething, Minister for Health and Social Services, said: “A year ago we launched A Healthier Wales, the Welsh Government’s long-term plan to transform the way we deliver health and social care. I am pleased we’ve already allocated more than £80m of the £100m Transformation Fund to back projects which can eventually be scaled-up to deliver the vision set-out in A Healthier Wales.”
Since the publication of A Healthier Wales on June 11 last year, £87.2m has been allocated from the Transformation Fund to projects across Wales.
This investment would pave the path for Cwm Taf Morgannwg towards Digital Hospital agenda.
Last month, Cx Regulatory Services software from Civica were chosen to manage the regulatory service functions in a new five-year deal under shared services for Peterborough and council partners. In March, UK’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and free access to Microsoft 365 provided an upgrade to the technology growth in Wales.