A new digital health assessment platform is to be launched at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in Wales over the summer, with the aim of re-shaping how the board collects and utilises patient-reported data.
The new Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) collection platform will initially focus on data collected from heart failure and lymphoedema services to inform broader implementation and help in refining the platform.
As well as collecting patient feedback, the health board is looking to encourage its staff to consider how PROMs could be integrated into their services in the future. As part of this, the board is encouraging staff to take part in an online course provided by Swansea University which covers topics such as value-based health and care and navigating innovation and change.
Digital in Welsh healthcare
HTN recently covered the publication of Digital Health and Care Wales’ organisational strategy 2024-2030, which is framed around five key missions: to provide a platform for enabling digital transformation, to deliver high quality digital products and services, to expand the digital health and care record and the use of digital to improve healthcare, to drive better values and outcomes through innovation, and to be a trusted strategic partner and a high quality, inclusive and ambitious organisation.
Earlier in the year, we highlighted the move to a cloud pathology platform for Digital Health and Care Wales; and we also explored their primary care strategy for 2024-2027, which highlights priorities including development of a digital futures team with the intention of shaping technology choices, and enhancement of researching and reporting capability.
Patient experience, research and portals
In July, findings from the GP Patient Survey 2024 highlighted patient experiences of healthcare services provided by GP practices, including access, making contact with practices, quality of care, experiences of services outside of opening hours, and experiences of NHS dental and pharmacy services.
HTN also reported on the launch of Prostate Progress, a collaborative research initiative which will see the NHS Research Secure Data Environment linking pseudonymised clinical data with patient-reported outcomes, enabling researchers to access “rich, integrated datasets” about prostate cancer care and experiences.
And elsewhere, we looked at NHS England’s latest guidance on automation and functionality in patient portals, which clarified that portals should provide general information about tests, availability, result timeframes, and communication around abnormal results; signpost patients to further resources to help understanding of results; notify patients when tests have been ordered; and present quantitative results to enable review along with trend views of repeat tests.
