A new group, for staff supporting frontline health and social care professionals, interested in shaping future digital services, held its inaugural meeting in Templepatrick on 6 December 2018.
The encompass Digital Business Support Forum will bring together a wide range of professionals with areas represented including Admin and Clerical, Planning and Contracting, System Managers, Information, Health Records, Medical Photography, Finance, HR including Staff side, Estates and Patient Services, to name but a few, as part of the encompass Programme.
The encompass Programme aims to create a single digital record for everyone in Northern Ireland.
Currently Northern Ireland’s HSC uses lots of IT systems that are old and need replaced. They also rely on paper records and processes.
A new digital record will bring information – currently sitting in a variety of places – into one record.
It will replace multiple ageing and obsolete clinical and administrative systems with a single solution.
Staff will be able to update records in ‘real time’, make notes electronically, prescribe medicines, order tests and communicate with patients and users.
It means that health and care staff won’t have to enter the same data on different systems and in paper records and forms and can make better use of their time. It means that we can provide guidance and support for decision making at the point of care, helping to ensure that we can provide people with the highest standards of care, equitably, across Northern Ireland.
The team is currently in the process of procuring a supplier to deliver and implement the new system.
The Digital Business Support Forum Chair, Denise Lynd, explained the need for the Forum.
“The forum will act as a regional decision making and professional leadership group, with members using their knowledge to make design decisions and configure administrative and clinical pathways alongside other subject matter experts.
“It will be made up of front line, multidisciplinary staff, who are committed to, supportive and convinced of the benefits of enabling transformation through encompass,” she said.
For more information contact encompass@hscni.net
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