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NOVEMBER 2024 NEWSLETTER

DIGITAL HEALTH AND CARE WALES AND LIFE SCIENCES HUB JOIN FORCES TO ADVANCE DIGITAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS

Digital Health and Care Wales and Life Sciences Hub Wales are joining forces to drive healthcare advancements in Wales through digital innovation. By collaborating to develop and deploy digital health solutions, the partnership aims to position Wales as a leader in this field, enhancing healthcare outcomes and supporting the growth of the digital economy.

Together, we’re building a dynamic programme that fosters collaboration between academia, industry, healthcare providers, and policy makers, while highlighting the value of thought leadership, sharing best practices, recognising excellence, and demonstrating measurable benefits. 

NEW DIGITAL DASHBOARD PROVIDES KEY INSIGHTS INTO SPINAL PROCEDURES ACROSS NHS WALES

A new digital dashboard is making it easier for clinicians to gain key insights into spinal procedures across NHS Wales. 

The information can be used to help reduce waiting times for spinal surgery in Wales and identify areas for improvement. 

Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) developed the dashboard in collaboration with the Welsh Value in Health Centre to make it quicker and easier for operational and clinical teams to view information about the service’s current use. 

SUCCESSFUL UPGRADE OF HOSPITAL PHARMACY STOCK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The first significant all-Wales upgrade to the Welsh Hospital Pharmacy Stock Management System has been successfully completed, and ensures the continued dispensing of 4 million items and half a billion pounds worth of medicines during 2024. 

DHCW teams worked with Health Board teams, and the supplier, to complete the upgrade without any disruption to the service. 



Sam Lloyd, DHCW Executive Director of Operations said, “This is a fantastic achievement. With such an important system that’s in use at 75 locations across Wales, the stakes were high. Our teams worked excellently in collaboration with Health Boards and the supplier, and it’s a credit to everyone involved that it went as cleanly and crisply as it did.” 

ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION SERVICE MARKS ONE YEAR IN WALES

A service which makes the prescribing process easier, safer and more efficient for patients and healthcare staff is marking its first year in Wales.

The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) was launched in Rhyl, Denbighshire, on November 17th 2023. Since then, it has been rolled out to some patients in every health board in Wales, with hundreds of thousands of prescriptions being dispensed without the need for the traditional paper form.



The first prescription in Wales was sent electronically from Lakeside Medical Centre to Wellington Road Pharmacy, a milestone marked by a launch event with the then Minister for Health and Social Services, Eluned Morgan MS.

FIRST DISPENSING APPLIANCE CONTRACTORS NOW USING THE ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION SERVICE IN WALES

Some patients who use medical devices and equipment given on prescription are now able to sign up for a convenient service, following successful testing by a number of appliance contractors in Wales. 

Patients whose GP practices use the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) can nominate, or choose, a dispensing appliance contractor (DAC) to receive their prescription electronically from the surgery. This means that the paper prescription form no longer needs to be posted, resulting in a more efficient service.



Nightingale, Respond and Fittleworth have successfully tested software developed by Clanwilliam to enable them to receive electronic prescriptions. The system supplier was approved to support the roll out of EPS in community pharmacies in Wales in August and underwent an additional phase of testing to support DACs too.

DIGITAL HEALTH AND CARE WALES FINALISTS FOR TWO AWARDS AT THE ANNUAL UK IT INDUSTRY AWARDS

Digital Health and Care Wales were proud to be finalists for two awards at the prestigious annual UK IT Industry Awards. The awards are designed to celebrate and promote the organisations, teams, projects, technologies and individuals who shape the future of IT.

DHCW was shortlisted for ‘Best place to work in IT’ and the Electronic Prescription Service team for ‘Team of the Year’ for their work on the biggest change in decades to prescribing in NHS Wales.

AGENCY AND TEMPORARY STAFF TRAINING SESSIONS FOR THE WELSH NURSING CARE RECORD

The Business Change team at DHCW are offering online teaching and Q&A sessions focused on the Welsh Nursing Care Record (WNCR). Each session will last one hour, including a demonstration following by a Q&A session. The sessions are scheduled as follows:

• 16th December             14.00 – 15.00
• 27th January                 14.00 – 15.00
• 24th February                14.00 – 15.00
• 14th March                     14.00 – 15.00

If you wish to book in and attend these sessions, please book via the WNCR course page on Learning@Wales. You will receive confirmation of your booking and a reminder email prior to the session.

THE NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE RECORD: FROM PROSPECT TO PILOT

“Our goal is to make sure that that the right data is made available at the right time so that the right decision can be made.”

Bethany Paines-Chumbley is a Business Analyst at Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW). She's written a blog talking about the work to develop a National Mental Health Care Record (NMHCR).

DIGITAL MEDICINES COMMUNICATIONS TEAM COMMENDED AT NATIONAL AWARDS EVENT

The team behind a campaign to raise awareness among patients and healthcare staff about the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in Wales has been commended in a prestigious national awards ceremony. 

The Digital Medicines communications team was a finalist in the Best Public Sector Campaign Award at the Chartered Institute for Public Relations (CIPR) Cymru Awards 2024 in Cardiff.

As part of International Mens Day on November 19th, we took a moment to celebrate the men who inspire us, support us, and make a difference in our lives.

To mark the occasion, we asked some of our colleagues who their positive male role models are.