Three exemplars based on STPs to receive up to £7.5 million each to work on larger scale than existing local efforts
The Government is to provide up to £7.5 million each over two years for the development of electronic shared health and care records in three areas in England.
NHS England said the money will be made available as part of a programme to establish new local health and care partnerships, with the initial funding going to Greater Manchester, Wessex and One London.
It will be aimed at ensuring the relevant information on patients will be instantly available to everyone involved in their care, and stepping up the integration of health and social care.
The three areas, which between them cover 14 million people, are the first winners of bids to form local health and care record exemplars (LHRCEs).
The creation of the exemplars, each of which is made up of one or more sustainability transformation partnerships (STPs), builds on work done on shared digital records at a local level in some parts of the country, including Leeds, Dorset and Rotherham. The new bodies will work on a larger scale with the aim of better understanding the demand for local services.
Raising the bar
Will Smart, chief information for health and care at NHS England, said: “Through local health and care record exemplars we are raising the bar for how the NHS can improve care through technology.
“By sharing information across a larger population, we can ensure that as people move across the different parts of the NHS and social care they don’t have to repeat themselves and provide the same information time and again.”
He added that discussions are taking place with organisations in other areas and that two are expected to join the initial group later this year.
Image by jfcherry, CC BY-SA 2.0 through flickr
