NHS app - and other apps

[robgul]

I'm sure there are health professionals here that may add to the discussion . . .  .

1  I have the NHS app on my phone - all set up through the GP practice (in SuA) - seems to work fine as it has appointments, medication details to place repeat prescriptions, some history etc etc. [I also have an online ordering app for the pharmacy, which is owned by the GP practice]

2  I have been having some treatment at South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (that's at Warwick Hospital and at the satellite hospital in SuA) . . .  today I've had a letter saying that the trust has a "new patient portal, MyCare in Warwickshire" and saying I'll get a text inviting me to register [That's a challenge as they don't have my mobile number - but that's incidental at the moment]   It's not very clear what the portal will do.

3  I am also a customer at Coventry University Hospital (Walsgrave) after some serious surgery stuff 7 years ago - I'm pleased to say that I'm now just on an annual appt (with some blood tests) with the consultant.  That's all paperwork in the post - but I guess at some point that'll get to be online.

Now, what I can't understand is why the SWFT portal content isn't on the NHS app (and presumably in due course the Walsgrave stuff) - i.e. everything in one place? - a.k.a. "joined up" and not duplicated.

Is it just poor planning, poor thinking, insular managements . . . or what?

[Polar Bear]

Well, I would say this is because the conservatives dropped the NHS Patient Records database project shortly after gaining power in 2010.  I had done some considerable work on this involving integrating data from the many and varied local system solutions into one common accessible format. 

[Lightning Phil]

I think it’s a bit like councils when it comes to the NHS.  They all have slightly different solutions to what are very similar challenges.  They have their insular budgets and responsibilities and rarely collaborate to deliver a solution all can use. They each live in their silos.

IT nearly always reflects the organisation and culture.

[Regulator]

The information that needs to be held in the various providers that are part of the NHS is actually the same, irrespective of where the provider is based and what the local patient cohort is.  This means there could be one GP system, one hospital patient administration system (PAS) and one system for allied health professionals.

But the NHS is poor at implementing national systems.  'Devolution' and 'localism' are the flavour du jour, which makes implementing simple solutions nigh on impossible, as the IT/BI director for every trust, GP surgery or AHP clinic wants whatever the marketing person from the last supplier they talked to says is the best.  And that's before we get to national devolution of the NHS and it's impacts on cross border data flows.  There are national NHS interoperability standards published - but these are based on self-certification with no validation and routinely ignored by developers.

If the local NHS spent half the time implementing the national systems that are out there that they do creating work rounds, things would flow a lot more smoothly.  When Mr Larrington marches his Panzers down Whitehall and I am appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, national systems will be implemented without deviation.  Or else!

[robgul]

The information that needs to be held in the various providers that are part of the NHS is actually the same, irrespective of where the provider is based and what the local patient cohort is.  This means there could be one GP system, one hospital patient administration system (PAS) and one system for allied health professionals.

But the NHS is poor at implementing national systems.  'Devolution' and 'localism' are the flavour du jour, which makes implementing simple solutions nigh on impossible, as the IT/BI director for every trust, GP surgery or AHP clinic wants whatever the marketing person from the last supplier they talked to says is the best.  And that's before we get to national devolution of the NHS and it's impacts on cross border data flows.  There are national NHS interoperability standards published - but these are based on self-certification with no validation and routinely ignored by developers.

If the local NHS spent half the time implementing the national systems that are out there that they do creating work rounds, things would flow a lot more smoothly.  When Mr Larrington marches his Panzers down Whitehall and I am appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, national systems will be implemented without deviation.  Or else!

That's rather what I thought - seems strange that they can get HMRC/National Insurance pretty much organised across all facets of tax collecting . . . . (or at least they seem to do so)

[Kim]

'HMRC' and 'organised' in the same sentence...

[robgul]

'HMRC' and 'organised' in the same sentence...

Well - organised may not be the word but perhaps "co-ordinated" . . . in days of yore the Inland Revenue and National Insurance/Pensions departments were quite separate - they now seem to be pretty joined up, and have been for quite a while

[FifeingEejit]

Now, what I can't understand is why the SWFT portal content isn't on the NHS app (and presumably in due course the Walsgrave stuff) - i.e. everything in one place? - a.k.a. "joined up" and not duplicated.

That's NHS "England" and its "internal" market for you...
Also the British publics ability to go ape shit at data sharing even when it's in their medium to long term interest.

Despite our interoperability requirements up here for accreditation along with limited providers of each type of system, we dinnae hae an app to shew the masses thir data.
(Practices are either EMis or Vision, Matty is almost certainly Badgernet although some use Trak for that, PAS is almost all Trak etc.)

That's rather what I thought - seems strange that they can get HMRC/National Insurance pretty much organised across all facets of tax collecting . . . . (or at least they seem to do so)

HMRC is a reserved matter, and presumably doesn't have to compete with itself.