Salvation Army signs Capita in fight against slavery
The Salvation Army has selected Capita’s case management software to support its provision of care services for adult victims of modern slavery.
The software will be used to handle case management, referrals, needs and risk assessments, matching victims to service providers and volunteer services, and to coordinate the transport of victims to a safe place.
Anne Read, director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery for The Salvation Army, said: “Capita’s software will enable our contract management team and more than 500 volunteers nationally to quickly protect victims of modern slavery and those identified as being at risk.”
The Salvation Army has been awarded a contract by the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to coordinate the provision of care to adult victims of slavery in England and Wales.
Cheshire councils get new child protection security
Cheshire West and Chester Council have selected Becrypt’s tVolution Mini to enable users from different agencies to securely access their data systems for child protection.
The pocket sized mini-computer will be used by health and social agencies and the local police to view data that resides on premise within the councils’ Public Services Network infrastructure. The device plugs into a monitor or TV and, along with a keyboard, mouse and internet connection, provides secure remote access to the network. The data includes contacts, referrals, assessment and plans.
Sonia Bassey, integrated early support senior manager for the councils, said: “tVolution Mini provides us with a managed endpoint that ultimately helps us to meet our safeguarding targets. We can share up to date information amongst the key parties, which helps us to act faster and protect those children who may be at risk.”
Socitm sees slow take-up of digital approaches
Public services IT organisation Socitm has said that many local public authorities are not taking up the digital approaches that can provide the most plausible response to austerity.
In a report titled Living with austerity: making hard choices for ICT investment, it says many service organisations are still reliant on traditional thinking and failing to capitalise on digital opportunities.
It urges IT managers not to leave it to frontline services to decide what to do in isolation, but get involved in changing the culture. This will involve combatting entrenched attitudes, technophobia, rigid adherence to established ways of working, and concerns about roles and job security.
The report describes a series of prescriptions for action and presents a group of case studies from the ‘digital opportunity toolkit’.
Newport Live implements finance and e-procurement software
Not-for-profit organisation Newport Live, which manages culture, sport and leisure facilities for Newport City Council, has implemented an integrated finance and e-procurement software from Advanced Exchequer. It has been designed to increase visibility and control over purchasing across seven local facilities.
The web based e-procurement software can be used to add new suppliers, track the approval statues of purchase order requisitions and confirm receipt of ordered goods. Incoming invoices are automatically matched to purchase orders and electronically routed to relevant staff for authorisation via email.
Ian Colblourne, director of finance and resources at Newport Live, said: “The solutions will allow us to retain central visibility of local purchasing decisions without needing to rely on inefficient paper-based procedures. This will help us to maintain tight financial control and ensure that money allocated for improving Newport’s leisure services is wisely spent.”
HSCIC signs Redcentric for cloud DBaaS
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has awarded a £3.5 million contract to IT managed services provider Redcentric to provide a database as a service (DBaaS) to support a national infrastructure programme. It will power a repository for healthcare data in England, enabling a range of reporting and analysis to support the NHS.
The DBaaS has been procured via the G-Cloud and will be provided from Redcentric’s accredited data centres in England.
Cardiff and Vale rolls out mobile
A Welsh health board has said it is on course to complete the roll out of 800 netbook devices to its staff by late summer, making it one of the largest mobile implementations in the NHS.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has been working on the project with IT services provider Stone Group. It began with a deployment of the mobile Paris electronic patient record to 20 nurses in 2009.
Each device is configured to include NHS security imaging and the health board’s branding. Security cards are connected to the employee, who can sever the connection remotely if the device is ever lost or stolen.
Mark Calahene, Paris programme manager, said: “Our staff can now visit patients anywhere in the field and both view and update their Paris clinical records remotely via their devices. This allows for handwritten reports to become a thing of the past, reducing the admin burden of duplicating work ‘back at base’ and giving staff additional patient time.”
Gloucestershire Hospitals choose Meru for SmartCare
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has selected Meru Networks to support its clinical SmartCare project, which includes a new electronic patient record system.
The company will provide a new 802.11ac wireless network to cover three primary areas of the trust, including Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal Hospitals, with plans to roll it out across all sites in the future.
Under SmartCare, the trust is moving away from paper notes towards a fully digital patient information system. Its channel layering technology makes it possible to run different services on different wireless channels, so clinical services can be run separately to other patient services. This will help to ensure the security of sensitive data.
Meru will work with partner European Electronique to replace the existing system.
Balfour Beatty chooses Yotta for highway management
Balfour Beatty Living Places has appointed Yotta to implement the Horizon visualised asset management platform across a number of its local authority highways management contracts. “Information and data relating to highway infrastructure assets – where they are, how they perform and the optimal time to maintain – is critical to the success of public realm contracts,” said Nick Smee, chiev executive officer of Yotta. “By working with Balfour Beatty Living Places we are contributing to an effective asset management framework which can be rolled out across other contracts.”
Axelos launches academic initiative
Axelos has set up a programme to instil best practice in IT service management, project and programme management and cyber resilience in academic syllabi.
The joint venture between the Cabinet Office and Capita, which spreads best practice in IT project management, is working with educational institutions and businesses to develop a platform to support its efforts.
“Our aim is to foster a community of interested stakeholders and promote discussion and debate around how best practice is leveraged in academia,” said Philip Hearsum, Axelos ITSM portfolio manager. “As owners of the Global Best Practice portfolio, we want to support both higher education institutions and students on their journey, and make sure graduates enter the job market with up-to-date skills, giving them a real competitive advantage.”
Noble Hospital gets Patientrack early warnings
The Isle of Man’s Department of Health has equipped Noble Hospital with the Patientrack digital observation and early warnings system. It will enable nurses to take observations at the bedside, then automatically calculate early warning scores to alert clinicians when an intervention is needed.
Dr Keki Madon, a clinical lead on the project, said: “The technology will be configured to respond to clinical requirements, and will allow us to move to digital observations and automatic alerts, meaning that frontline staff can spend more of their time directly caring for patients.”
St Michael’s Hospice gets new mobile system
St Michael’s Hospice in Hastings has signed Advanced Health & Care to deliver the Crosscare mobile clinical management solution.
The system is due to go live in March 2016 and will enable the hospice to increase the time its workers spend with patients by up to 20% through automating manual processes. It will electronically store full patient records including individual care plans, assessments and reviews.
In addition, Crosscare will assist St Michael’s to prepare for the Palliative Care Fund Review and comply with the Outcome Assessment and Complexity Collaborative initiative.
Pictured: Salvation Army Parade Oxford 20040905 by Kaihsu at English Wikpedia. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons
