Digital technology

As part of the urgent and emergency care pilot we have trialled direct booking from NHS 111 to general practices. This will mean that people dialling 111 can have an appointment made directly with their own practice if their need is less urgent. We are piloting NHS 111 online, a web-based tool which will give people greater access to urgent advice.

There is huge potential for digital technology to support healthier lifestyles, allow people to manage their own healthcare, and enable people to benefit from more fully from health and care services. We have recently developed a partnership with the Good things foundation to develop and test digital ‘wearables’ that support people with seeing and hearing difficulties to receive health services in a way that works better for them. This pilot is backed with £50,000 of national funding.

Interactive Digital achievements roadmap for 2017/18, use the 'click here' buttons to find out more about a project or organisation.

• Providing digital training to staff and public to enable them to make use of all the opportunities available.
• Joining up data and analysing the information so we know what is happening in the city which provides the intelligence to our city leaders to ensure we commission (buy) the correct health and care services.
• Engaging with citizens about how their information is and might be used to improve their health and care.
• Using the Leeds Care Record which provides care professionals directly involved in a person’s care access to the most up to date information. It does this by sharing appropriate information from health and social care services in the city and currently has over 4,500 active users.
• Providing free WiFi in GPs and Leeds City Council buildings
• Piloting a Person Held Record - an electronic record that individuals can use to help manage and share their health and wellbeing information. It is believed by citizens that a Person held Record would give them more control over their own health and wellbeing and enable them to take action sooner to treat or reduce the risk of a condition.

West Yorkshire Pathfinder project

We are working with mHabitat on developing new ways of accessing healthcare providers for people who are hearing and/or sight impaired. To find out more information on this project and others - click on this link: https://tinyurl.com/yc8j2j65

Case studies
Read about how local people are using digital technology to improve their lives. You can read their stories below:

Kay's story
Susannah and Alice's story
Mario's story

Charities using digital technology

Leading charities such as Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and local charities like KVIN are also using technology to improve services for those with a visual impairment.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) charity supports blind and partially sighted people. Offerng practical and emotional support to those that need them - so they can continue living life to the full. You can find out more about them at www.rnib.org.uk

The RNIB have a useful guide to all things digital which can help those who are blind and partially sighted - you can find it here.

KVIN is a user-led organisation, providing services aimed at improving the lives of local sight impaired people through the use of technology. Peer support is at the heart of what they do, with a team of volunteers, many of whom are visually impaired themselves, they are ready to offer real and practical solutions to issues faced by their peers. Find out how KVIN are harnessing the power of new technology here.

You can find out more about KVIN here: www.kvin.org.uk.

Anyone who travels to other public sector organisations as part of their job will understand how hard it can be to connect their laptop or tablet to a different WiFi network at a new location.  Identifying the correct network, finding the password, and actually logging on, all wastes valuable time.  You may also find, you have to tether to your mobile phone to gain internet access. 

The Digital Teams across the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Parnership are in the process of implementing Govroam, which is a WiFi network available to any public sector organisation.  This means that for staff who visit a building with Govroam connectivity, they should have instant access to the internet and resources at their home organisation. Staff only need to log in once and will then automatically connect any time you are in a building with Govroam connectivity. 

To access Govroad simply contact your local IT Service Desk to request access.  Once this has been set up, you just search for Govroam WiFi in the same way as if you were connecting to your home broadband.  When prompted to log in, enter the username and password that you normally use to access the computer in your host organisation (it may take a while to connect the first time).  Once connected to Govroam, you just use the remote connection/VPN facility that you usually use to securely access your work device. 

Download the Govroam Companion app to search for buildings with Govroam connectivity.  This app is updated regularly as new buildings are connected across the country.  There is already a wide coverage of Govroam across the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership region and this is increasing on a regular basis.

A new partnership to provide health and care staff with better and faster access to vital information about the person in their care is being established across the Yorkshire and Humber region.

At the moment, in many areas GPs and other care professionals are often not able to access crucial patient information quickly if it is held in another part of the health service – sometimes having to rely on post or fax instead.

A new collaborative, the Yorkshire and Humber Digital Care Board aims to address these issues by using technology and digital innovations to link systems across health and care organisations, enabling care providers to work more closely together.

This will result in the creation of a new Yorkshire & Humber Care Record, which will also provide citizens with access to their information and encourage them to be more involved in looking after their health.

On Wednesday 27 June, NHS England announced that Yorkshire and Humber is one of five areas chosen to become ‘Local Health and Care Record Exemplars’ (LHCRE). NHS England launched the LHCRE programme to reduce unnecessary patient tests and improve patient safety through better working between hospitals, GPs and social care.

Each new partnership will receive up to £7.5 million over two years to put in place an electronic shared local health and care record that makes the relevant information about people instantly available to everyone involved in their care and support.

In June the Yorkshire and Humber region was awarded one of five exempler positions on the NHS Local Health Care Record Exempler (LHCRE) programme. The programme's ambitious objective it to integrate health and care records across the region with the aim of improving care by providing timely and relevant information to care professionals and citizens securely and safely.  
 
Over the summer a small team called the Yorkshire and Humber Care Record Delivery Board and Team has been working with local representatives to understand how we will deliver this commitment and the Yorkshire and Humber Digital Care Board has met to oversee and govern the programme.  Our final funding agreement is now with NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care for approval and they are aiming to release the monies to Yorkshire and Humber within the next few weeks. 
 
The work undertaken by Local Health Care Record Exemplar will both impact and benefit all NHS and social care providers in the Humber Coast and Vale Health Partnership, South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Health Partnership, and West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health Partnership.   Over the coming months we will communicate updates, events and workshops that you may want to be involved in but in the meantime if you would like to know more or engage with the Yorkshire and Humber Care Record Team please contact hnf-tr.yhcr@nhs.net