NHS IT ops, orgs and policy

• price EPS prescriptions;
• lead the Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC) project;
• provide the Manage Your Service (MYS) application;
• provide the Information Services Portal (ISP) application; and
• publish statistics.

NHS England leads the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), it sets the priorities and direction of the NHS to improve health and care. NHS Digital and NHSX were incorporated into NHS England.

NHSE local teams: May be involved with some local IT matters e.g. the completion of the Data Security and Protection Toolkit by pharmacy contractors. NHSE have published a list of local NHSE teams with contact details.

Integrating care (Nov 2020).

NHS Long Term Plan (2019).

Five-Year Forward View (5YFV).

• Using digital systems and data to drive system working, connect health and care providers, improve outcomes and put the public at the heart of their own care;
• Stronger partnerships in local places and a more central role for primary care in providing joined-up care;
• Provider organisations (NHS Trusts) being asked to step forward in formal collaborative arrangements that allow them to operate at scale; and
• Developing strategic commissioning with a focus on population health outcomes.

NHS Long Term Plan: Setting out NHS intended priorities for healthcare for 2019-2029 including anticipated digital developments.

5YFV: The NHS needs to adapt to take advantage of the opportunities that science and technology offer patients, carers and those who serve them. But it also needs to evolve to meet new challenges: longer life expectancy, with complex health issues. The document proposes measures to help deliver a more responsive NHS in England.

Data saves lives (2021)

Integration and Innovation (2021).

The future of healthcare (2018).

Power of information (2012).

Data saves lives (“reshaping health and social care with data”): These policy proposals set out how to better use data across the health and care system. Community Pharmacy England has summarised the propoals into a one-page briefing factsheet.

Integration and Innovation (“working together to improve health and social care for all”): This included DHSC’s legislative proposals for a Health and Care Bill. This recognised the value with broad “duty to collaborate” across the health and care system and ICSs” and a plan to “legislate to ensure more effective data sharing across the health and care system, which is critical to effective integration, and will enable the digital transformation of care pathways”

The future of healthcare (“our vision for digital, data and technology in health and care”) This set out the Government’s ambitions for the use of technology, digital and data within health and care. This approach includes setting clear standards for the use of technology in health and care.

Power of information (“giving people control of the health and care information they need”): A strategy that set out plans for using information and technology to improve health, care and support – to improve the experience, quality and outcomes of health and care services, intending to put people at the heart of care.

Digital priorities: CP ITG published its Digital priorities list (two pages) summary version (one-page) or  infographic version.

CPCF IT: CPCF grid, infographic and IT Reproductions of the grid and infographic to support IT relating to the Five-Year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).

EPS future list: Collated views about the key EPS priority items

Topol Review.

Topol Review 2 years on.

Topol Review (“Preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future”): It makes recommendations to enable NHS staff to make the most of innovative technologies such as genomics, digital medicine, artificial intelligence and robotics to improve services. These recommendations were intended to support the aims of the NHS Long-Term Plan, and the workforce implementation plan.

Topol Review 2 years on (roundtable discussions): Some of the original authors of the ‘Topal Review’ dicussed progress on the findings two years after the original review was published.

Personalised health and care; and related

NIB reports.

Personalised health and care 2020 (published 2014): A framework for action that intends to support frontline staff, patients and citizens to take better advantage of the digital opportunity. The intention is that better use of data and technology has the power to improve health, transform the quality and reduce the cost of health and care services via four key ways: (1) give patients and citizens more control over their health and wellbeing; (2) empower carers; (3) reduce the administrative burden for care professionals; and (4) support the development of new medicines and treatments. It also said clinicians should be more paperless; and patients should expect that those caring for them have efficient access to relevant information.

NIB reports (2016-2017): The role of the NIB was to put data and technology safely to work for patients, service users, citizens and the professionals who serve them. It brought together national health and care organisations from the NHS, public health, clinical science, social care and local government, along with appointed independent representatives to develop the strategic priorities for data and technology. It sets data and technology work-stream priorities in health and care and advised DHSC.

Wachter review.

Making IT Work.

Wachter review: This review on use of IT when improving the NHS, suggested technical changes tend to succeed where carried out alongside workforce transformation and workflow amendment / training. The review suggested recommendations to inform the English health and care system’s approach to the further implementation of IT in healthcare, especially the use of electronic health records and other digital tools to achieve a paper free system. Recommendations included: (1) strengthen and grow the pool of healthcare staff that will have trained both clinically and within digital fields; (2) Allocate the funding to help Trusts go digital – mostly for those needing help, and for rewards for those exemplars; (3) Link national funding for digital to viable local implementation plans; and (3) Ensure interoperability as a core characteristic of the NHS digital ecosystem.

Making IT Work (“Harnessing the Power of Health Information Technology to Improve Care in England”): Wachter working with an IT advisory body to NHSE and DHSC set out recommendations as to how to best implement digitl technology policy.

Caldicott2 (2013).

Caldicott3 (2016).

Caldicott2 (“Information Governance Review”): Review of information-sharing to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between the protection of patient information and the use and sharing of information to improve patient care.

Caldicott3 (“Review of data security, consent and opt-outs”): Recommendations aimed at strengthening the safeguards for keeping health and care information secure and ensuring the public can make informed choices about how their data is used. A recommendation was made in some scenarios that the duty to share information for a patient benefit could be as important as the duty to protect confidentiality.

Informatics (“The future, an organisational summary”): (DHSC 2012)

Securing excellence in IT Services (“Operating model for community pharmacies and others”) (NHS England 2012)

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs); and

Commissioning Support Units (CSUs)

CCGs: Services CCGs commission include: urgent and emergency care (including out-of-hours); most community health services; and more. For community pharmacy, CCGs may wish to commission services such as palliative care schemes, MUR+ and other medicines optimisation services.

CSUs: CSUs provide CCGs with external support,  skills and knowledge to support them in their role as commissioners. CSUs do not have formally defined boundaries and may serve any CCG. CSU specialist support services include IT support. CCGs/CSUs may be involved with or act as the Smartcard Registration Authority within some localities.

CSU list: CSUs may include: NHS North of England CSU; NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands CSU; NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU; NEL CSU; NHS South, Central and West CSU; Capita; Optum; and eMBED.

List of CCGs.

List of CSUs.

A list of local contact details is available to users of NHS Service Finder (available for health care staff such as pharmacy teams members and LPC members):

List of local DoS team contact info (login required).

Around 40 Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) were formed from 2016 and were intended to evolve into Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and many have done so. ICSs are intended to run services in a more coordinated way, to agree system-wide priorities, and to plan collectively how to improve peoples’ day-to-day health. They service populations of between 300,000 and 3 million.

List of ICSs list (maintained by NHSE).

LAs are involved with commissioning the majority of public health services. Each LA has a Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) which has a wide remit across the new health and care system, providing strategic oversight and bringing together all the local commissioners. HWBs do not commission services; that is undertaken by the LA.

Each council also has a health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) dedicated to scrutinising local NHS policy, planning, and impact against local needs and inequalities. The health OSC also must be consulted on any proposed substantial service changes.

Contractors and LPCs may identify their local record project team via the list below.

List of local records projects/teams.

LPCs work with local partners – potentially to help set out local IT priorities.

List of LPCs.

NHS England is a body made up of thousands of staff, some of whom may work locally on user research or IT implementation (e.g. use of EPS and health records).

May be involved with some local IT matters e.g. the completion of the Data Security and Protection Toolkit by pharmacy contractors.

List of local NHSE teams with contact details.

PCNs are a key part of the NHS Long Term Plan, with general practices being a part of a network, typically covering 30,000-50,000 patients. The networks provide the structure and funding for services to be developed locally, in response to the needs of the patients they serve. It is important that community pharmacy teams and LPCs are fully involved in the work of their PCN and this is continuing to be encouraged.

Lists of primary care networks (published monthly by NHS England’s digital directorate in a zipped spreadsheet file called ‘epcn‘).

The four Regional Medicines Optimisation Committees for England make recommendations, pursue actions, and co-ordinate activities related to any aspect of Medicines Optimisation.

The Specialist Pharmacy Service website contains a page through which patients, practitioners and teams can submit ideas for RMOCs to consider. The website also contains RMOC membership lists, agendas, meeting dates and minutes.

STPs were formed back in 2016. These were intended to evolve Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and most have done so. These service populations of between 300,000 and 3 million. The intention of STP/ICS is that they will run services in a more coordinated way, agree system-wide priorities, and plan collectively how to improve patients’ day-to-day health. There are around 40 STP/ICS areas within England.

For list see row related to ‘ICS’.

Community Pharmacy IT Group (CP ITG) has worked on template papers that can be used by LPCs or contractors to set out local priorities which align to the CP ITG’s national vision.

• Local digital priorities template (prose version)
• Local digital priorities template (slide version)

Further comments about the templates can be sent to it@cpe.org.uk.