CREDIT: Original Article by Person Centred Software

NHS Digital’s Social Care Digital Innovation Programme funding is enabling care homes in Sutton and Merton to transfer care records to hospital electronically. A grant has been awarded to Sutton Council and Person Centred Software to extend their project following collaboration in early 2019 on an NHS demonstrator project that pioneered digitising the transfer of records from two care homes to St Helier Hospital. This forms part of the Paperless 2020 project, led by James Palmer, NHS Digital’s Social Care Programme Head, which aims to link NHS, local authorities and social care to digitally streamline records and improve social care outcomes.

Care homes in Sutton and Merton that have successfully passed the Data Security and Protection (DSP) Toolkit and are using Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system can now send records electronically to their local NHS Trust hospital to improve communication during resident transfers between care homes and hospitals, save staff time, and ensure residents receive person-centred care at every stage of hospitalisation. The project uses Sutton Council’s standard of the ‘red bag’ to create a digital version, referred to as an ‘e-red bag’.

Simon Papworth, co-founder and director of Person Centred Software says, “We are delighted to be part of the Sutton team which received Pathfinder funding from NHS Digital to continue to push forward the digital integration of health and social care through our e-red bag technology and collaboration with Sutton Council. Our aim is to enable free flowing information about people’s care needs in emergency admissions and we are speaking to other NHS Trusts to continue developing this project.”

In July 2019, Chegworth Nursing Home part of Clearstone Care group completed the DSP Toolkit and is sending information to hospital as e-red bags. Care homes in Sutton and Merton that are not using Mobile Care Monitoring have the option of securely replacing fax with the e-red bag using a tablet app from Person Centred Software.

In February 2019, as part of the initial demonstrator project, Belmont Care Home in Sutton, part of Caring Homes Group, successfully sent a resident’s hospital admission information digitally to St Helier Hospital in Carshalton. Up-to-date care records compiled as a ‘Hospital pack’ existing in Person Centred Software’s electronic system, Mobile Care Monitoring, arrived at the hospital at the same time as the ambulance.

Arthur Tanare, Manager at Belmont House, part of Caring Homes Group says: “Person Centred Software’s digitalisation of the red bag scheme improves the lives of residents and staff at Belmont House. With the electronic transfer of information, the hospital has all the personal information they need to care for the resident in front of them, not just the emergency clinical information, so doctors and nurses no longer need to call us to find out more information. This saves a lot of time and means that residents receive smooth transfers to hospital and holistic, person-centred care at every stage of hospitalisation.”