Major integrated care record set for Black Country and West Birmingham ICS

Plans to create one record across several ICSs by linking Black Country and West Birmingham with neighbouring One Health and Care shared record

Black Country and West Birmingham ICS has partnered with Graphnet Health to deliver an ICS-wide shared record covering Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Sandwell and West Birmingham. Once complete, professionals will have access to a single view of key shared information at the point of care for 1.5 million residents.

The large-scale programme will support better and safer care for residents by integrating hundreds of information feeds from the region’s GP practices, councils, acute trusts, mental health trust, ambulance trust, specialist trust, hospices and care homes.

Graphnet already provides the One Health and Care record that is used in the neighbouring counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire, and there are plans to link up with these ICSs and the wider West Midlands in the future, this will ensure that care providers will have relevant access to the record regardless of where the patient is resident.

Staff will be able to use the new One Health and Care record to view a person’s medications, social care packages, end of life details, care plans and Covid-19 data such as testing status and shielded patient data.

Mike Hastings, Digital Lead for the Black Country and West Birmingham Integrated Care System, said: “This exciting project is all about providing safe, efficient, joined-up care and ensuring that professionals get the same view of their patients’ information no matter where in the Black Country and West Birmingham they are caring for them.”

Graphnet will also provide the ICS with an intelligence platform to enable population segmentation, risk stratification and population health management. Residents will benefit from the introduction of a personal health record to view, contribute and share information with their care teams for monitoring and planning around an individual’s needs.

Brian Waters, Chief Executive at Graphnet commented, “We are pleased to be supporting Black Country and West Birmingham. It’s a great collaborative effort by many health and social care organisations across the system, all of which are focused on harnessing data to improve care and outcomes for local people.”