The south central region of England has gone live with a single child health information system, using System C’s CarePlus software to provide a comprehensive electronic record of over 906,000 children’s public health records.
The new system has combined 11 different child health information services and workflows to create a unified child health information service covering children in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Bath and N. E. Somerset, Wiltshire, Swindon, Gloucestershire, Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Led by South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW), the project included migrating data from 5 separate IT solutions to create a central database of 3.2m records.
The Child Health Information Service delivered by SCW has a mission to create integrated child health solutions which help improve care quality, safety and efficiency and to meet the requirements of the new national child health digital strategy.
Sue Trinder, CHIS director SCW, said: “We had a complex brief to create a system that interfaces with multiple providers and provides access for health and social services. I’m delighted to see it come successfully to fruition. We are working with health and care professionals to ensure that they have access to comprehensive and accurate information about each child they care for.” Child health records are important because they support health visitors and school nurses in their jobs and play an important role in public health. They record routine immunisations, newborn screening events and developmental checks, as well as providing vital information to local safeguarding teams. They also provide a fail-safe to ensure that all children, including those not registered with a GP, have been offered and have access to vital public health services.
The new CarePlus system will allow staff to keep track of each child’s records, even if they move to another area within the south central region. CarePlus will record screening and immunisation information, provide automated new birth registration. It also allows integration with a wide range of organisations and services, including the maternity hospital, blood spot laboratories, hearing screening services, GP practices, the Personal Demographics Service and the NIPE SMART system for newborn and infant physical examinations.
Beverley Bryant, chief operating officer of System C, said: “We talk a lot in the NHS about the importance of using IT to integrate services and workflows. It’s great to have worked with South Central and West Commissioning Support Unit, on a project which has delivered on schedule exactly what it set out to do. This unified service will help close gaps and improve the protection and health of nearly 1 million children.”
