The latest board papers from Mid and South Essex ICB have highlighted the impact of digital tools and data in supporting a number of different projects and priorities, including total triage, whole system stewardship, modern general practice, emergency preparedness, resilience and response, and more.
In the area of primary care, highlights from the Primary Care and Alliance Report noted “significant rollout of increased digital tools” that support the total triage approach, as well as “significant progress” in the use of digital tools in general, with “136/145 practices using AccuRx (including 65% using Floreys, 90% using SMS and 48% using booking functions)”, and with “the majority of practices” in the region regularly using tools such as eConsult and Patchs.
The report also points to plans for a promotional campaign which will commence shortly to help boost public awareness of Modern General Practice, total triage, and self-referral. The board papers add updates from primary care including progress on the digitalisation of Lloyd George records, reporting that 1.289m records across Mid and South Essex have now been digitised, which has “freed up space at practices to accommodate additional staff/services”.
The Board Assurance Framework for January 2025 notes risk around primary care workforce pressures and “demand outstripping capacity”, noting “patient experience and pathways may not adequately meet the needs of our residents”. On progress toward addressing this, it highlights the increased number of practices undertaking total triage, and ICB transitional funding to support practices in implementing new approaches. Next steps are outlined as continuing the rollout of Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs), with all expected to be live by March 2025; and actions on digital tools and solutions for 2025/26.
The board also share updates on the use of digital in other areas across the region, including in emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR), where they state that “a cyber security deep dive was completed” and the EPRR team is working with IT and digital teams “on all the elements identified”.
On Shared Care Records, the board highlight that potential savings have “increased to £2.1 million”, whilst Barry Frostick, CDIO, advised that discussions be held with MSEFT, the “biggest users of the SCR system”, to help understand “how implementation could be effective”. Anna Davey, partner member for primary care services, stated that the SCR “was not being used fully in primary care, as SystmOne tended to be used mostly, so further work was required”.
Further updates on digital and data can be found within the December Stewardship Papers, which describe “digital and data exemplars” at Mid and South Essex including the electronic Frailty Care Coordination System, and “a wealth of data and analytical capability”, including BI analysis and PHM. The papers commit to developing “a more robust approach” to data use within the Stewardship programme, offering tools and techniques such as system dashboards and additional focused data sets, to “support stewards in reviewing trends, identifying problems and priorities, developing solutions, and monitoring impact”. They also make a commitment to exploring ways to “better support and embed digital innovation, including how the Shared Care Record and Patients Know Best app can add value to existing pathways”.
To read the board papers in full, please click here.
More on digital and data from Mid and South Essex
Last year, we heard from Matthew Hopkins, chief executive at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, on his hopes and aims for the year. “I’m very proud of our ambition at Mid and South Essex NHS FT for what can be achieved with digital transformation and innovation,” Matthew said. “We have a clear digital strategy and a long term plan to make MSEFT a truly digital first organisation. Combined with our commitment as a trust that everyone who works here has an opportunity to innovate, we support a wide range of new technologies, support innovators, and have seen a number of big projects really take shape. These projects will use digital to help create a digital hospital for the future, and serve our staff and patients in supporting reliable, high quality care.”
The publication of Mid and South Essex Community Collaborative’s annual report highlighted some of the key digital projects and initiatives to have impacted on health and care in the region over the last 12 months, which focused on the digitalisation of processes and enhancing the way EPR systems are used and interacted with. One of these digital projects is Autoplanner, which has been used to automate the scheduling of visits and enable remote access to records. According to the report, evidence of improvements from the initiative includes the “enormous change” in the amount of time taken to schedule visits, with a reduction from 532.5 hours per week to 40 hours per week of nursing time being spent on this activity.
And in August, Barry Frostick, CDIO at Mid and South Essex ICS, took to LinkedIn to announce the go-live of the ICS’s shared care record, highlighting the potential for the platform to “enable better connected care and safer treatment” for patients and residents. The shared care record, developed in partnership with Orion Health, aims to bring together information from local health and care organisations, offering health professionals in the region “instant access” to information, which in turn can support timely treatment and more tailored care.
