First step towards unified records for county patients
THE first step is being taken towards creating a single NHS and social care record for each resident in Derbyshire, health bosses have said.
The new approach will ensure all the information needed to help in an individual’s care from health and local authority social care services is available to professionals in one secure place.
A new multi-million-pound initiative to generate a shared health and social care record for each Derbyshire and Derby city resident was first announced in January and the contract to begin to develop a shared care record has now been awarded.
It is a national requirement for regions in England to develop shared care records and this initiative for Derby and Derbyshire means local services are on track to deliver the first step of a shared care record by the deadline of September 2021 – known in the contract jargon as the “minimum viable solution”.
IT solutions firm Orion Health has been awarded the contract to begin work on developing a secure shared care record for everyone living in the local area, on behalf of public services partnership Joined Up Care Derbyshire.
It will mean that health and social care professionals working across all Derbyshire and Derby city’s
NHS and local authority social care organisations will be able to access the same records to support their care of individual patients.
It will promote better “joined up care” – especially for patients or service users who need multiple services and see lots of different professionals, who in future will avoid the need to repeat their stories at each appointment. It will also benefit individuals who suffer an emergency and arrive in A&E, so doctors and nurses can bring up their records quickly to check for things like any allergies to medications.
Tracy Allen, who is leading on digital innovation for Joined Up Care Derbyshire, said: “This is a really important step in generating much better integrated and streamlined records for local people.
“With digital health and social care records held by each organisation already it is much more feasible to create a way for NHS and social care professionals to see notes made by colleagues in partner organisations to support individual patients.
“This contract with Orion enables us to begin to scope the way in which this might work, securely and safely, over the coming months.”
The total contract value is around £7.2 million.
STAFFORDSHIRE Moorlands theme park Alton Towers is planning to reopen from April 12, bosses have said.
The attraction closed in December, and its parent company Merlin Attractions has been waiting on news from the government over when it would be able to welcome guests back once again.
The theme park revealed in a statement last week, following a government announcement, that it will be open from April 12 – which is the earliest date people will be allowed to stay overnight in self-contained holiday accommodation, away from home.
The statement said: “In line with the latest Government guidance,
we are delighted to confirm that we plan to open Alton Towers Theme Park and selected self-contained accommodation from April 12, 2021. For the time being, guests will be able to enjoy Alton Towers Gardens, which will open every day from March 29 to April 11 for local families to enjoy.
Tickets to enter the gardens must be pre-booked and are £12 for adults and £5 for children aged 3-11, with under-3s going free.
The government hopes that stage two of the road map out of lockdown restrictions will go ahead as planned, as long as infection rates continue to drop and the vaccination roll out continues to be successful.
As well as theme parks, other attractions, zoos, gyms, hairdressers and all non-essential retail could reopen on April 12.