Health and social care procurement includes provision for app development and monitoring devices
Health and social care authorities in Warrington are aiming to include app development in their integration plans.
They have begun a procurement process for a Warrington Care Record to provide a single clinical view of information on patients, and which includes a lot for the development of people's access to their personal data through apps and monitoring devices.
Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is leading the procurement on behalf of the Warrington Health and Social Care Community, comprising a group of NHS trusts, the local clinical commissioning group and borough council.
Its tender document includes lots for functions that are familiar elements of integrated care records – a locally hosted data sharing platform, e-forms based on care pathways, and a population health capability – along with one it describes as the “innovative end of the procurement”.
This involves a capability to develop citizen access to include personal data from apps and monitoring devices. The document says it is an optional requirement not covered by the care community's potential provider budget, but that there is a preference to procure it from the chosen provider during the course of the partnership.
Specialisation question
Its exclusion from the budget reflects the acknowledgement that some of the functions are very specialised and that any solutions may not yet have been developed.
The contract will last for seven years with the option to extend for another three in one year increments, and has an estimated value of £8-10 million.
The plan is the latest to emerge in a trend towards the creation of integrated health and social care records. The Leeds Care Record has been in place for three years, and organisations including the London Borough of Islington, Bridgend County Borough Council and the Northern Ireland Executive have announced plans to deploy systems.
Image by Daniel Sone (photographer), public domain via Wikimedia Commons
