Hospice UK
Embracing interoperability at Demelza: Impact on referrals and access to medical data
Digital transformation journey
Over the last 3 years, Demelza have embarked on a digital transformation journey, reviewing all key systems and creating efficiencies plus streamlining processes where possible.
One of the most important projects we embarked on was accessing NHS shared records directly through our patient management system. Before this work was completed it would take our referrals team 8-12 weeks to process a new referral, mostly due to waiting for paperwork to arrive in the post, or chasing hospitals and doctors surgeries for important medical records.
Once this key interoperability project was completed, Demelza was able to process a standard referral in 4-6 weeks, and admission of our children is much simpler than before as we now have access to up-to-date medical records through the Kent and Medway Shared Records.
Being based in the South East of England we still have work to do with London and East Sussex shared record providers, but this will only enhance the data we have access to when we’re able to work with them.
Work with internal teams to implement the solution
Work with patient management users, IT departments and any other key stakeholders in your organisation and work with the third party providing access to test and confirm.
There’ll be a lot of testing to make sure everything works as expected.
Monitor and review – continually improve and look for extra providers
You will save your clinicians an inordinate amount of time processing referrals and new admissions to your service, whilst also adding an additional element of patient safety.
Complete information governance work
The largest part of our project was to get organisational sign-off to gain access to this data. Data privacy impact assessments, non-disclosure agreements and other legal documents will need to be completed to gain access.
Whilst it might be a lengthy process at the time access to this data will save the families and service users a large amount of time.
The first step of interoperability is identifying the NHS data providers that are available in your area.
Reach out to your local contacts to find the solution for you; make notes of key contacts and follow up regularly to see if they’re ready to enable shared records for your hospice.
"Access to NHS records has significantly reduced the time some families have had to wait before accessing Demelza’s services." - Alex Crannis, Head of Data and Intelligence at Demelza