Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership has partnered with Access Health Support and Care (HSC) to implement the Access Adam Care Commissioning Management Software for NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) services.
NHS CHC is a package of ongoing care arranged and funded solely by the NHS specifically for individuals aged 18 and over who have been assessed as eligible, having a ‘primary health need’.
This means that they have ongoing nursing or healthcare needs that are over and above that which can be provided by community services.
This could include individuals who need end of life care.
Access Adam Care Commissioning is an integrated end-to-end solution that can manage the entire process of NHS CHC, including referrals, care planning, personalisation, commissioning, and financial aspects of the service.
This will help to ensure the best possible decisions are being made for the best possible outcomes using accurate data.
The system went live across Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership earlier in the year.
Julie Tyas, senior social care consultant at Access HSC, said: “Discharge coordinators don’t have time to spend phoning social workers to coordinate the discharge process, identifying available community services and producing care plans for individuals.
“Access Adam’s digital brokerage system provides the much-needed visibility of services that are available, to help put care packages together more quickly.
“Most importantly, it helps staff at the point of discharge to find the most appropriate support for each individual, which reduces their chance of readmission to hospital and enables them to live their lives in the most comfortable way.”
With Access Adam, Wakefield will be able to send out requests for care packages to the entire market of eligible providers, receive responses, and rank them based on various criteria such as quality and cost.
This will give the local NHS and the patients’ families more visibility and options in choosing the most suitable care provider.
The system also includes features for provider management, such as sending out questionnaires to assess performance and integrating with external data sources, like Experian, to monitor financial stability and staff levels of care providers.
Jacquelyn Hughes, business operational lead for continuing healthcare at Wakefield District Health and Care Partnership, said:
“The partnership with Access HSC reflects Wakefield’s commitment to providing high-quality care for our most vulnerable patients.
“Until now we’ve been using several different systems to manage the patient journey, but with Access Adam everything is integrated, so we can see their entire journey.
“We’re providing packages of care to help people who are at their most vulnerable, some of whom may be at the end of life, and whilst it is important for all our patients, for these people in particular, we will only get one chance to get it right.
“It’s vital that we use a system that can help us do this.”
The system will also generate automated reports on the data that is inputted, and is also integrated with the NHS Spine, meaning that better decisions can be made around future planning of services.
The partnership with Access HSC also aims to improve compliance and reporting capabilities for Wakefield, aligning with other organisations under the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICBs) that have already adopted the Access Adam solution.
This includes Leeds Health and Care Partnership, Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership and Kirklees Health and Care Partnership.
By introducing Access Adam at the West Yorkshire ICB in Leeds, the overall time spent on sourcing packages of care has been reduced by 35 per cent since implementation.
The same is expected to be achieved at Wakefield.
Leanne McGee, operational lead at NHS West Yorkshire ICB, said: “Access Adam has made it easier for providers to be able to contact us with regards to their requirements.
“They can see them at an instant notification and are very responsive to that, so then we’re picking packages of care up probably quicker than we were before so that makes a huge difference”.
It is anticipated that Access Adam will bring numerous benefits to Wakefield, including improved compliance, streamlined processes, enhanced reporting capabilities and quicker payment of invoices.
