Issue details
Healthcare ICT Infrastructure
Approve the grant funding of £1,502,608 to NHS Tower Hamlets CCG to deliver ICT infrastructure and digital access for health facilities across the borough.
Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived boroughs in the country and the population is expected to reach nearly 315,000 by 2020, increasing the demand for GP services. There is a clear need for GP services to work differently to meet the challenges of a growing population and a constraint on resources. Primary care workload is around 33% more than current funding can pay for, and 86% of GP staff believe general practice will need to change to meet future demand.
The project will provide ICT infrastructure to help manage demand for face-to-face GP appointments. The provision of technology will allow patients to check their own vital signs and answer clinical questionnaires away from GP appointments, while remote access for GPs will allow for smarter working arrangements to take non-clinical tasks away from clinical spaces, and new front-line technology such as phone systems, check-in screens and tablets will improve patient flows and efficiency.
The project will also aim to improve the accessibility of health services through digital mediums. It will develop full online registration for GP services, which will then be accessible at any location without the need to attend the practice, in order to tackle a large unregistered population. This will be integrated with tablets at practices and urgent care centres to enable easy access for more vulnerable individuals. It will also be provided in multiple languages to target those populations less likely to be registered.
Further to this, a Tower Hamlets Health app will be developed, with the aim to provide a single point of access for Tower Hamlets health services, allowing patients to take GP appointments online through the app, to book face-to-face GP appointments and to be signposted to LBTH health improvement services.
This all aims to create a GP network which is more dynamic, increasing capacity by reducing the need for face-to-face GP appointments, and modernising to appeal to a more digitally active population.
Decision type: Non-key
Decision status: Issue Closed in System
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Notice of proposed decision first published: 16/10/2018
Open/Exempt: Open;
Decision due: 7 Nov 18 by Grants Determination (Cabinet) Sub-Committee
Lead member: Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing
Lead director: Corporate Director, Health, Adults and Community
Department: Health, Adults and Community
Consultation process
Public consultation was carried out by Tower Hamlets CCG in 2016 to understand the primary care needs of local people and to inform the proposals outlined within the project.
Engagement has taken place across multiple council departments such as Public health and Planning.
Lead Member for health and corporate director have been briefed on project proposal.
Consultation was undertaken by Tower Hamlets CCG, consulting 72 people through co-creation workshops and focus groups, involving a representative socio-demographic mix of local people from across the borough.
Documents
- Healthcare ICT Infrastructure