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New digital system supports COVID-19 vaccine roll out in Wales
A system for creating and scheduling COVID-19 vaccination appointments has been developed by NHS Wales Informatics Service.
The Welsh Immunisation System (WIS), which is an in-house development, is supporting the roll out of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (and others as they become available) across health boards.
The system uses information on patient demographics, occupation groups and agreed priority levels for receiving the vaccination, to allow healthcare professionals to schedule appointments for patients. It will create appointment slots, send out appointment letters and record details about each vaccination for every COVID-19 vaccine administered in Wales.
As the vaccine consists of a two-dose schedule with four weeks between doses to achieve the maximum level of immunisation, the system can automatically schedule follow-up appointments for each patient to receive their second dose.
Alison Maguire, Programme Lead for the Welsh Immunisation System at NHS Wales Informatics Service, said: "This national system has been created in-house at NWIS in partnership with our colleagues across NHS Wales and the Welsh Government. It will mean we can safely and securely schedule and record all COVID-19 vaccinations, wherever in Wales they are administered.
"By processing this information digitally and within one system, vaccinations can be delivered as efficiently as possible for priority patients and occupation groups."
Gill Davison, Application Development Manager for the WIS system said: "The WIS development has been a great team effort across NHS Wales, building on our 20 years of experience in delivering immunisation systems for the citizens of Wales."
The Welsh Immunisation System was ready for service on 2nd December and will be rolled out in Wales as part of the UK Government strategy for all UK nations.
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WCP Mobile App recognised for digital impact with life sciences award
The mobile app version of the Welsh Clinical Portal won the title at the MediWales Innovation Awards in early December.
The event, which has been running for 15 years, was set up to identify outstanding achievements in the life science sector in Wales. The Digital Impact award was one of four categories recognising innovation within the NHS.
Doctors can already view clinical documents and test results electronically in Welsh hospitals via the digital patient record within NWIS' Welsh Clinical Portal system. The mobile app allows clinicians to access relevant information about their patients while on-the-go and at the bedside from a mobile phone or tablet.
Access to the patient's digital record means health professionals can view test results electronically, irrespective of where any one of the 183 million tests were originally taken or processed.
App users receive push notifications, have access to their patient's location, can swipe to add and remove patients from lists, view past and planned activities and diagnostics, notes and tasks. They can scan wristbands and utilise voice to dictate updates onto patient records, including their response to diagnostic results.
The ability to directly mark patient transfer in hospitals, a new function now available, has seen a significant improvement in data quality, and therefore speed at which such crucial health elements such as medications are delivered.
Griff Williams, Product Manager for NHS Wales Informatics, said:
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"WCP Mobile was started as an innovation project. Its intention was to complement other national applications displaying patient health information, using mobile specific features such as the camera, vibration alert, rotate and touch screen functionality. The rollout of WCP Mobile was accelerated in response to Covid-19; allowing healthcare professionals to immediately access diagnostic results, without needing to use a shared desktop computer."
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The WCP Mobile App was also named as a finalist for Healthcare Project of the Year at the UK IT Awards, which took place in November.
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Recruitment of non-executive roles for the Digital Health and Care Wales Board
Recruitment is under way for a vice chair and five non-executive members for the Board of Digital Health and Wales, a new organisation which will be established as a Special Health Authority (SHA) on 1 April 2021.
The new SHA, which replaces the NHS Wales informatics Service, will have a key role in transforming digital services for health staff and patients.
Both first time and experienced board members are sought from a range of backgrounds. To be considered an individual will need to show an understanding of the issues and priorities that are likely to be important to the new organisation,
- an ability to hold the executive officers to account for performance whilst maintaining a constructive relationship;
- ability to think strategically and to exercise sound judgement on a range of sensitive and complex issues;
- ability to analyse and interpret detailed information;
- an understanding of how diverse groups bring their lived experiences as transferable skills and experience
- * In addition the Vice-Chair will have experience of a leadership role within the private, public or third sectors, with the ability to look ahead and provide strategic leadership
The closing date for applications has been extended until 4 January, 2021.
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NWIS' digital skills programme joins forces with another university
A ground-breaking agreement was signed on Wednesday 9th December between two major NHS Wales universities and the NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS) is hailed as a milestone linking health technology and academia.
The current WIDI partnership has seen great opportunities for NHS Wales staff to take up new educational opportunities, in health technology, data and information. The new arrangement now widens the scope to cover research.
Helen Thomas, interim CEO for NWIS said: "The opportunities to develop even closer working relationships with the academic institutions through WIDI will enable us to become a world leading partnership. This will offer substantial staff development for everyone working in digital healthcare as well as giving us as an organisation the benefits of having access to experts in research and innovation both here in Wales and on the global stage.
"With the formation of the new Special Health Authority, 'Digital Health and Care Wales',in April 2021, I am confident the WIDI alliance will move from strength to strength in its evolution and look forward to expanding our collaboration with our colleagues at the two universities with taking forward a digital health agenda".
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Thank you and Season's Greetings
As we move towards the end of the year, on behalf of everyone at NWIS a massive thank you to all our colleagues who work tirelessly to care for people in need.
As an organisation we are proud to support you by developing new data and digital services. The COVID-19 dashboard, Test Trace Protect, remote working for GPs and a new system to record COVID-19 vaccinations are just some or our achievements over the past months.
Working with you we are finding new ways technology can make an impact and help both staff and patients during this ongoing fight against COVID-19.
2020 was not the year we expected and has been tough for all of us. Just 12 months ago, few would have been able to predict the impact of the pandemic on all our lives.
On a personal level, I am immensely proud of the dedication and adaptability of NWIS staff who switched to home working overnight while continuing to develop new software and services and provide technical support. An outstanding achievement.
Our sincere good wishes for Christmas and the New Year and we look forward to continuing to provide NHS Wales with digital services and support.
Helen Thomas
Interim Director
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