Agenda item

(To receive a report from Derek Ward, Director of Public Health, which provides the Committee with an update on Lincolnshire County Council’s involvement and activity to date in the Sustainability Transformation Partnership Clinical Care Portal programme.  Samantha Francis, Information and Systems Manager and Theo Jarratt, Head of Quality and Information will be in attendance for this item)

The Committee considered a report from Derek Ward, Director of Public Health, which provided the Committee with an update on Lincolnshire County Council’s involvement and activity to date in the Sustainability Transformation Partnership Clinical Care Portal.

The Chairman invited Samantha Francis, Information and Systems Manager and Theo Jarratt, Head of Quality and Information, to remotely, present the item to the Committee.

The Committee noted that the Sustainability Transformation Partnership Clinical Care Portal enabled organisations to share their recorded patient data with other partners in health and social care, via an online patient record populated from multiple source systems.  Details relating to Phase 1 – Health data viewable via Mosaic; and Phase 2 – Social care data viewable via Portal were shown on page 30 of the report pack.

It was highlighted that the anticipated benefits of integrating Mosaic and the Portal would provide a more holistic view of the service user, data would only have to be recorded once; the data would help inform social prescribing in health and care; the data would be up to date and would be standardised; delays would be reduced, currently caused by request for information sharing; duplication of effort would be reduced with the service user; and there would be increased security in data sharing, which was currently done via physical transfer of paper files, email and attachments, or verbal communication.

The Committee was advised that Phase 1 had been achieved ahead of the expected target; and that Phase 2 was still in the development and testing stage.

Appendix A to the report provided feedback from Adult Care and Community Wellbeing Practitioners using the Care Portal to review patient health records; and Appendix B provided weekly totals for February to December 2021 of the number of Mosaic user visits to the care portal.

In conclusion, the Committee noted that shared access to service user/patient data was of great benefit to the Council’s frontline practitioners and managers, as it enabled users to have a more holistic view of the patient and more efficient information sharing.  It was noted further that the various areas of development across the Portal programme would combine to create a hub for multi-agency case management, which would inform and improve health and care services.

During consideration of this item, some of the following points were raised:

·       Some concern was expressed that the data being provided could be incomplete; and concern was also raised regarding the security of data being shared.  It was highlighted that the care portal interfaced with other health development systems.  The records involved were complete and checked to ensure that the records were only accessed by staff with the appropriate credentials, and when a patient record was accessed the name of the user was logged.  Officers agreed to checking that all paper records were included.  Reassurance was given that the necessary agreements and governance arrangements were in place and that advice on GDPR [General Data Protection Regulations] had been sought from the start of the project.  The Committee noted that United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust managed access to the system; and that appropriate access was given to individual service users depending on their roles.  Reassurance was also given as with any system, audits were completed to ensure user compliance and that there was constant vigilance to prevent external  threats;

·       Whether East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) would have access to the portal.  The Committee noted EMAS had shared some of their data in December 2021.  Officers agreed to check with Sustainability Transformation Partnership (STP) as to whether EMAS staff would have access to the system; 

·       The Committee was advised that further clarification was needed with regard primary care data being mandatory;

·       Whether North Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust would be included in the list of next data sources to be developed/added.  The Committee was advised that this trust was on the list as were other neighbouring trusts, as well as Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust and Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.  The Committee was also advised that neighbouring Trusts would have a similar system, as the regional structures had an awareness of the requirements of Local Health and Care Records across borders; and that a group had been set up to look at such matters.  It was also highlighted that NHS Digital had stipulated that this was a national requirement across the country.  It was noted that ultimately, it was the intention for Lincolnshire to connect regionally;

·       Reassurance was given that training was given to new users joining the system; 

·       Use by Child Protection.  It was confirmed that child protection had been one of the first services to be included.  It was noted that the inclusion of primary care and the police was still work in progress.

·       Private hospital care information would be picked up from local provider records;

·       A request was made for a further update to be received in six months’ time

The Chairman on behalf of the Committee extended his thanks to officers for their presentation.

RESOLVED

That the update on the Clinical Care Portal be received and noted and that a further update be received by the Committee in six months’ time.