The Gouvèrnément d’Jèrr (Government of Jersey) Health and Community Services have shared the 2024 annual report for quarter two, providing an overview of the department’s improvement plans and performance reporting for the year in key areas including its electronic patient records programme, e-referrals, e-prescribing, and progress on waiting times and its elective care list.
The digital health strategy of Jersey as a five-year programme sets the aim of making Jersey a “digitally-world-class health and care systems” utilising technology “everywhere to deliver accessible, joined-up, person-centred care”.
Three activities are listed as having been completed to date, including the implementation of a strategic method for clinical image storage, referred to as a vendor neutral archive; the replacement/upgrade of obstetric sonography system software; and the replacement of an audiology legacy system.
With regards to the EPR programme, workstreams have been delayed “due to dependencies on the hospital Wi-Fi improvement plan”. The report adds that “once the patchy Wi-Fi issues in the hospital have been addressed, the Wi-Fi modules can be progressed” and thus “EPR workstreams are now scheduled to be implemented into mid-2025”.
The report goes on to include systems planned for introduction with work currently on track include an e-referral process and e-prescribing for chemotherapy as well as an e-consent system for surgical procedures.
Additionally, the document highlights positive progress around plans to replace the picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) legacy system; the undertaking of an IT service model review for commissioned services; upgrading the cervical cancer screening service to increase efficiency and automation; provision of virtual consultations; improving Wi-Fi connectivity in hospital; and providing digital support for faecal immunochemical testing.
The government notes confirmed delays around plans to introduce an EPR for adult social care and deployment of infrastructure for electronic patient medicines administration (EPMA).
Yet to begin is a project set to implement a new EPR system for ophthalmology.
The report also shares a range of key metrics being measured by Jersey’s health and community service, including waiting times on elective paths, elective theatre list utilisation and outpatient did-not-attend (DNA) rates. On the latter, the document highlights that Jersey’s DNA rate “remains static at around 11 percent for the first half of the year” and draws focus on ongoing work across outpatient improvement projects, including “digital initiatives which have a longer-term implementation timescale”.
View the report in full here.
Earlier this year, HTN explored a review on Jersey’s EPR implementation which highlighted the need for “greater focus on effective stakeholder and user engagement, as well as more effective discipline around the identification, monitoring and delivery of benefits”.
Strategies and plans
Last week we reported on the data and insights strategy from South Yorkshire ICS for 2024-2026, which sets out ambitions to build an intelligence-led system using data to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and experiences, with focus on evaluating care pathways, improving population understanding and tackling health inequalities.
Earlier in the month, we looked into a new strategy from the North West London Acute Provider Collaborative, outlining shared priorities and plans to “address complex, system-wide issues more effectively in the years ahead”.
From Royal United Hospitals Bath, HTN explored the research strategy spanning 2024-2029, highlighting how “the digital explosion in healthcare provides us with much data” and outlining the use of this data to support the trust’s key strategic priorities as “core business”.
From Scotland, we examined the climate emergency and sustainability strategy for 2024-2027 along with an action plan for delivery.
And from Wales, we took a look at Digital Health and Care Wales’ organisational strategy for 2024-2030.
