11 December 2009
East of England SHA says SystmOne is Transforming Prison Health Services
SystmOne is now in use in the majority of prisons in the East of England. The East of England SHA has been working with NHS CFH, CSC Alliance, NHS East of England Health and Social Care in Criminal Justice Programme, and the national prison service to ensure prison health care teams are able to use SystmOne to its fullest potential and draw out maximum benefits for staff and patients. Potentially, this could improve the management of the immunisation and vaccination programmes for prisoners.
Using paper records to manage the immunisation and vaccination programme has been extremely difficult in the past, as many prisoners move around the prison estate. This makes it difficult to track and manage care plans in a safe and consistent way, either causing delays in courses being given, or in some cases the full course not being completed.
Martina Vogel-Matthews, Prison Lead for the NHS East of England Strategic IM&T team, said, "Having links with the SHA prison lead and the national prison lead has provided us with a real opportunity to look at the strategic direction for prison health care, as well as new ways of utilising technology, and look at what we are trying to achieve. Understanding the business drivers is essential to service improvement, as it enables us to look at strategic approaches through the use of technology."
Having access to electronic health care records enables prison health services to have immediate access to a prisoner's details as soon as they are transferred to another prison. The receiving prison can see if an immunisations and vaccination programme has been carried out, or if one needs to be started or finished. This improves the quality of health care delivered to patients, enabling the whole process to be managed in a safe, secure and consistent way.
To aid understanding of how services were being run locally and to support prisons in delivering changes to services, a Special Interest Group (SIG) was set up for users of SystmOne Prison. The group looks at specific challenges for delivering health care in a prison environment and provides peer support, so that best practice can be shared and processes can be reviewed and changed, if necessary. Barbara Ellis, Head of Health care for HMP Whitemoor says, "The East of England SIG has been invaluable to us during our first year. As well as providing networking opportunities, it is a forum in which best practice is shared, and common problems are discussed. I feel that the SIG has been a key factor in securing the motivation and progress which has been made within the East of England to date."
The SIG has been very successful, and continues to be so, as the group can continually review current processes and develop better ways of working. One example of this is the use of standardised templates, which enables health services to report on, monitor and manage services more efficiently. Dr Mark Williamson, Clinical Lead for the National Prison Health IT Programme, says: "Delivering health care in prisons means meeting the needs of people with a wide range of challenging problems. These include serious addiction, mental health problems, learning difficulties and helping many young people who have had very difficult childhoods. It is important that clinicians have the IT tools they need to work in this unique environment, which is what SystmOne provides."
Mark goes on to say, "Prison health care is a challenging environment in which to introduce new technologies, which makes the East of England's achievements very impressive indeed. In rolling out the system so successfully, the team in the East of England - including the SIG - has accumulated knowledge and experience which the National Programme and other areas are benefiting from, as the system is introduced in other parts of the country, and as it develops. Being advanced in this endeavour, their support to the National Stakeholder Group, and in particular, leading on Medicines Management issues, is greatly valued and appreciated."
Neil McIntosh, Programme Lead for Health and Social Care In Criminal Justice East of England Region, said, "I have been extremely encouraged by the speed and progress in the implementation and development of SystmOne across prisons in our region. Timely sharing of accurate, up-to-date health information is crucial for the delivery of effective healthcare for people moving across the criminal justice system, particularly those in need of treatment being transferred between prisons. The introduction of SystmOne represents a significant step forward which will promote better continuity of care in an area of high health need."
This article first appeared in the East of England Newslink newsletter.
