Better, sooner, more convenient health care in Midlands

3 The Integrated Family Health NetworkA regional focus on improving patient journeys• Assessing new initiatives for clinical practicalities;• Identifying the impact of new/proposed initiatives on primary and secondary services;• Recommend and advise on quality and outcome measures for locally deliveredactivities/projects.3. Provide clinical guidance on the development and delivery of Midlands Network wide services;This will include;• Advice on the implementation of appropriate strategies to support clinical governance/qualityin provider services;• Approving/improving service specifications for primary care services;• Considering whether clinical and administrative processes are able to be practically applied;• To oversee Network wide services, identify any problems with services, and advice on possibleimprovements to services.4. Facilitate primary-secondary collaboration and/or integration.This will include:• Identifying service gaps in the delivery of primary care services or at the interface betweenprimary and secondary health services.Information management development that can enable new models ofcare, improve quality and efficiently deliver servicesPrimary sector health information systems are currently restricted by two key factors, firstly thelegacy systems of the monopoly provider and secondly, the significant underinvestment that is beingmade by the sector. The current small scale of the underlying business structure continues to undercapitalise due to real concerns around nil return on investment via the current market structure.Currently the Midlands Network has been unable to find an “off the shelf” solution that will supportthe new models of care being proposed. Our Network’s response to this is to stretch the capacity ofthe existing systems using the current Medtech Evolution Patient Portal and look in the second waveto shifting to a centrally hosted and managed environment.The introduction of a new information system that can bring all health services closer togetherregardless of setting will require strong central leadership and investment. The Midlands Networkwill participate in these discussions but will in the first instance look to pushing existing systems.Linked to this strategy will be a one tool per desktop policy where solutions will need to integratewith the existing solutions.For example, Manage My Health is an electronic patient health record tool from Medtech thatgives individuals the opportunity to manage their own healthcare. The tool gives the individualsaccess to their own medical records and results from their key family care provider, and to sharethis information with other providers which in turn allows them to better manage their dailyhealthcare needs.The tool is fully integrated with the current Medtech solution that 80% of practice teams currentlyuse as a practice management system and allows two way communications from the individual tothe provider through a safe portal. The Midlands Network will look in the first instance to use thisplatform to create a patient centric platform. Additional optional applications such as txt2remind willplay a key role in bridging the gap with the new technology natives of the network.BestPractice Clinical Decision Support has now been installed in all practices within the MidlandsNetwork and provides the network with a web based platform supporting complex patient29