The latest winter plan for 2026/27 from Essex ICB has explored the role of digital and data across its system coordination centre, neighbourhoods, PCNs, ambulance services, virtual wards, and Hospital @ Home.
The ICB sets out priorities across eight domains, looking at system coordination, organisational resilience, prevention, urgent care, patient flow, digital visibility and operational intelligence, community and mental health access, and workforce and leadership.
A main pillar of the plan is the Essex system coordination centre (SCC), which will maintain a real-time view of demand and capacity across services, with an aim to support proactive management of pressures and timely decision making, the ICB shares. Working with system partners, the SCC will support attendance avoidance with the targeted use of urgent community response teams and out-of-hospital pathways. It will further act as a single point of coordination for operational intelligence and system-wide action, with daily multi-agency oversight.
In terms of data, the SCC will use the SHREWD platform for system-wide operational intelligence, with daily monitoring to identify pressures and promote timely intervention, according to the ICB. The Federated Data Platform is also expected to complement this by developing system reporting capabilities.
Multi-neighbourhood partnerships and integrated neighbourhood teams will support a coordinated, place-based response for individuals with complex health needs, with strong partnership working across the health, social care, voluntary, and community sectors, and a focus on delivery of the Home First approach, the board continues. Population health, primary care, and risk stratification data will help identify individuals at increased risk of deterioration or admission, and shared care records and digital referral processes will support information sharing and coordination.
On general medical services & PCNs, the ICB highlights the use of the Modern General Practice approach, online consultations, and total triage models in supporting timely access to care over the winter months. Digital access channels such as the NHS App and electronic prescription management will support patient access and demand management, it continues, and remote monitoring services will help support the management of long-term conditions.
For the East of England Ambulance Service, the ICB outlines improved access to real-time operational data and fleet information, enhanced operational information flow across services, and the use of sickness surveillance, rostering intelligence, and operational data to identify emerging pressures.
Across virtual ward and Hospital at Home, the ICB identifies 292 beds, with the inclusion of other admission avoidance and community capacity places taking this total to 426. Key priorities for the integrated care transfer hub involve embedding Home First principles into all pathways, maximising the use of Hospital @ Home and virtual ward capacity, and identifying and developing new Hospital @ Home pathways.
Also included in the winter plan is the ICB’s intention to increase the use of ambient voice technology and remote monitoring, with ambitions to launch the Doccla solution across respiratory services to enhance virtual monitoring and support admission avoidance.
Wider trend: Digital care
Norfolk and Suffolk ICB has published details of its digital weight management programme, highlighting the contribution of a population health management approach to achieving “significant” outcomes. The report, informed by work undertaken through the population health management programme, clinical steering group, and research and innovation teams, highlights the use of the Eclipse platform in identifying eligible residents. Those identified are then proactively contacted by a virtual support team to offer referral and support into weight management services.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (MCHT) has launched its new Digital First programme, looking to update the way it sends out patient communications and to make greater use of digital channels such as the NHS App. Patient letters and updates will now be sent out digitally, with the NHS App as the default method of communication alongside text messaging. MCHT shares hopes that this will reduce delays linked with traditional post, and make it easier for patients to find and view appointment information, clinic letters, and updates.
In its latest meeting, the NHS England board shared concerns about the slow pace of delivery for priority digital programmes including the Federated Data Platform, NHS App, single patient record, and ambient voice technology. “It was noted that delivery continued to be constrained by limited capacity within providers to implement change and by internal financial, recruitment and approval processes,” it observes. “Effective service ownership, implementation capability and alignment with the developing operating model were considered critical to achieving adoption and benefits.”
