A major step forward

Informatics in Wales is benefiting from the country's incremental and collaborative approach to healthcare

Edwina Hart AM, minister for health and social care, Welsh Assembly Government
Smart Healthcare, Wednesday 3 February 2010 09.00 GMT

Online research: Wales asked 2,000 people what they wanted online from the NHS. Photo of Edwina Hart: Welsh Assembly Government

As health minister it's my belief that we need to do all we can to deliver top-quality services, for all patients whether they live in towns, valleys or rural areas. This is particularly true during a time of economic downturn, and relies on our ability to make the best use of resources.

We have to do more with what we have, and we know that better use of information and technology can help us meet increasing demands for care against a finite supply of health resources.

I am confident that the Welsh Clinical Portal will help us do just that. It has the merit of using new technology to connect existing valuable sources of information that will make it easier for our doctors, nurses and health professionals to access vital information, centred on the needs of the patient. This is a major step forward.

But it's not just about the technology. It's about how it's used to support care, particularly for those living with long-term conditions, and how it can increase efficiency and patient safety. In Wales we have an estimated 800,000 people with at least one chronic condition, one in three of the adult population.

From the start we said that increased use of technology and better information would go hand in hand with changed working processes. And this is where the collaboration and engagement undertaken by Informing Healthcare has proved so valuable. We are delivering what health professionals want to do their job in a modern health service.

To find out how patients want to use technology to carry out day-to-day health tasks we asked around 2,000 people how they wanted to use the internet to support their own health needs. Overwhelmingly, they wanted to make it easier to contact their GP surgery.

So, I'm very pleased that later this year citizens and patients will be able to use the internet to make it more convenient to manage their own care by making GP appointments and requesting repeat prescriptions online.

Following devolution, the Welsh Assembly Government adopted a different approach to the way the NHS is organised and run in England. We firmly rejected the privatisation of services and the internal market, we don't have foundation trusts and our emphasis is on working together through collaboration and participation.

As a small country we recognise the value of looking outwards and Informing Healthcare's successful incremental approach is informed by evidence from large scale public sector programmes elsewhere.

Informing Healthcare has focused on delivering tangible benefits for patients through small service improvement projects that allow us to adapt and learn from new ways of using or linking information. Once we know they work and meet the expectations of both clinicians and patients we then move ahead with a national solution. This is the approach taken for the Welsh Clinical Portal, My Health Online and the Individual Health Record.

It's also a cost-effective form of delivery that's quick, adaptable, reduces risk and ensures the people using the systems get what they want.

Financial allocations are made on the basis of a series of business cases which justify investment in the overall programme of activities. These are developed in the context of specific healthcare policies and ensure that investment in information technology is aligned to benefits and avoids the risk of IT projects begin perceived as stand alone investments disconnected from patient care.

I'm passionate that all we do is shaped by what people want and, I believe strongly, the systems and services developed by Informing Healthcare, will improve the patient experience and support best clinical practice.