NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership Procurement Services has awarded a contract with a value of £43,863 to Access UK Ltd for the provision of a social prescribing platform to support referral pathways in Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan.
The digital platform is intended to support primary care referrals into community services, covering system access, reporting, integration with clinical systems, and ongoing technical support, the contract notice states. The health board hopes this will enable healthcare professionals and community partners to make and manage referrals into non-clinical wellbeing services.
According to the health board, the solution procured offers end-to-end referral management, including outcome tracking, reporting dashboards, and real-time analytics. It also integrates with existing clinical systems to promote information sharing and coordination across services.
System access, onboarding, configuration, tech support, user training, and system enhancements are all incorporated into the contract, the health board continues, adding: “The platform will help strengthen social prescribing pathways, improve the quality and consistency of referral data, and enhance access to community‑based support for patients across the health board area.”
Awarded for 12 months via the CCS G‑Cloud 14 Framework (Lot 2: Cloud Software – RM1557.14), the contract was reportedly granted to Access UK Ltd to ensure continuity, and on the basis of existing system integrations, and the cost, disruption, and risk associated with migrating to an alternative platform.
Wider trend: Digital pathways
NHS England has awarded a contract worth £22 million to TPXimpact as part of the Digital Prevention Services Portfolio, for digital transformation services relating to vaccinations. The contract, which is set to run for two years, will see TPXimpact working across maternity, neonatal, and school aged vaccinations, supporting vaccination pathways in care settings including GP practices, schools, and the community.
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust is using robotic process automation (RPA) to support the prostate cancer pathway, sending a text to patients due to come in for blood tests and then updating them with results via text, removing the need for a clinical appointment. RPA identifies from waiting lists when patients are due to come in for a PSA test, taking into account differing follow-up times depending on factors such as whether they have had surgery or radiotherapy. According to the trust, the automation is also capable of identifying when a result is within normal range for each individual person, sending them a text message with results within 24 hours.
NHS England has published a preliminary market engagement notice seeking to explore the feasibility of establishing end-t0-end diagnostic testing pathways for the NHS Online virtual hospital service. The notice outlines NHS England’s intent to use information gathered from the engagement to inform the future commercial and sourcing strategy for diagnostic access, looking at the provider capabilities, digital maturity, and interoperability required to support digital test ordering, appointment booking, and digital notification of results.
