June 2022
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Linking patient data makes life-saving medicine available to vulnerable people.  
Thousands of vulnerable people in Wales who test positive for COVID-19 are being given easy access to anti-viral medication thanks to a partnership between Digital Health and Care Wales and the Wales’ National Antiviral Service (NAVS).  

DHCW has been able to compile a list of over 60,000 patients with underlying health conditions. By linking this patient data with positive COVID tests NAVS have been able to rapidly provide potentially lifesaving medicine to those who are particularly vulnerable to hospitalisation.   

This ground-breaking work to link data has helped to reduce the strain on Welsh hospitals and increased the accessibility of healthcare by making individuals aware of the anti-viral treatment available to them. 

For more information about NAVS on our website.
SAIL winners at Swansea University's Research and Innovation Awards

The Information Services team at Digital Health and Care Wales were able to share with the Swansea University SAIL team in its recognition for its outstanding contribution to research and innovation.  

The awards hosted by the university, are presented to researchers and teams working in the university to celebrate the quality, relevance and positive global impact of research and its potential to inspire.

The team from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank project - which provides robust, secure storage of anonymised person-based data which has been created for research purposes to improve health services - won the category for ‘Outstanding impact of health and well-being’. 

The SAIL databank is recognised internationally for its anonymised data about the population of Wales. DHCW is responsible for providing much of the data used by SAIL and also traces and encrypts any personal identifiers found to ensure the data is always safe and secure.
Betsi Cadwaladr UHB West joins WelshPAS
The much-anticipated migration of data from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) West’s Patient Information Management System (PIMS) into the BCUHB Central instance of DHCW’s Welsh Patient Administration System (WelshPAS) has successfully gone live.
 
This forms part of a phased programme of work to consolidate the three separate patient management systems in BCUHB and implement a single instance of WelshPAS across the Health Board. The implementation was previously delayed due to the reallocation of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, but planning and collaboration between teams across DHCW, BCUHB and Dedalus (third party data transformation contractor), resulted in a smooth go-live weekend with minimal impact on users and patients.  
 
WelshPAS is the primary source of administrative data for patients in a secondary care setting, holding patient identification details, and records details of patients' hospital visits, including waiting list management, medical records, inpatient treatment, outpatient appointments and emergency visits.  
New portfolio underway to transform medicines

Digital Health and Care Wales has launched the Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio to deliver a fully digital prescribing approach in all care settings in Wales.

The portfolio brings together the programmes and projects to make the prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines everywhere in Wales easier, safer, more efficient and effective, through digital.

The Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio coordinates four different areas of work, all of which have connections with each other: 1) Primary Care Electronic Prescription Service 2) Secondary Care Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration 3) Patient Access, and 4) Shared Medicines Record.

More details are available on the DMTP webpage, or you can sign up to the DMTP newsletter. The Portfolio Senior Responsible Owner, Professor Hamish Laing has also made a short video explaining the portfolio. 
NHS Wales e-Library announces access to new digital collection of e-Books


The NHS Wales e-Library is announcing access to a brand new collection of nearly 400 popular and specially-curated e-Books of medical, educational, career-building and reference material, providing even more evidence tools when using library services.

These new resources can be accessed anywhere from preferred devices, much like all other e-Library tools and material using your e-Library log in details.
The content of this new collection, added to the e-Library's existing stock of e-Books, has been selected and procured through collaboration with librarians across NHS Wales along with Welsh Government and provided though EBSCO Information Services and Browns Books, the UK's leading supplier of books and e-Books for schools and libraries.

“We’re pleased to see the addition of this new collection, which will complement the printed resources available in our health libraries, enhance our provision of e-resources and open up access for users, wherever they are located,” said Nia Jenkins, Library Services Manager at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Access to digital books continues to grow, complementing existing resources and enhancing reading and research practices alongside printed materials, creating a whole new holistic approach to evidence-seeking needs.

With national access to thousands of digital, full-text, reliable and current evidence resources, the  e-Library is available to all NHS Wales employees, those commissioned to provide NHS Wales services, students on placement, and many more.


For more information about the NHS Wales e-Library, visit their website at: elh.nhs.wales
UWTSD launches new digital healthcare course
 
University Wales Trinity St David’s (UWTSD) are taking applications for the new Digital Skills for Health and Care Professionals MSc course starting in September.
 
The first course of its kind in Wales, this postgraduate course enhances the skills of health and social care staff. This course is suited to those who have an interest in expanding and working within the digital landscape of health and care delivery. This programme was developed in collaboration with the Wales Institute for Digital Information (WIDI) and NHS Wales professionals. WIDI is a strategic partnership between the University of Wales Trinity St David, University of South Wales and Digital Health and Care Wales. This partnership is a key driver for enhancing the digital workforce for the Health and Care Sector within Wales.
 
Applications are being accepted now. More information can be found on the UWTSD website.