South, Central and West CSU win child health contract with the System C and Graphnet Care Alliance

NHS England and NHS Improvement (South West) has commissioned South, Central and West CSU to create a single Child Health Information Service (CHIS) that combines Bath & North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Swindon with Wiltshire CHIS, so that all child health data is managed safely and securely in one place.

From April 2022, System C’s CarePlus child health information system will support the protection and health of children across the region. Care professionals will be able to track children from childhood through to their transition to adult services and will have access to all the relevant information to provide suitable care. Graphnet’s shared record platform will sit on top of CarePlus, providing real-time access to child health data, and broadening record access beyond the central child health teams to additional authorised professionals at their point of work, such as health visitors.

The programme will ensure that all children aged 0-19 years across Bath & North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire continue to have an accurate immunisation and screening record to support health care professionals in their delivery of clinical interventions, without interruption to service provision.

The combined SCW CHIS service will collate data from a range of healthcare professionals, including midwives, school nurses, health visitors and GPs to create a single child health record, helping to not only improve health outcomes through early intervention and accurate immunisation and screening records, but also providing benefits for the protection and safeguarding of children.

It is hoped that the service, which supports the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme (0-19 years), will help to encourage a stronger uptake of health screenings and vaccinations. By boosting these vital clinical interventions, children and young people will have a reduced risk of harm, poor health, and potential fatalities.

This is very exciting news. I am immensely proud of the SCW CHIS team who work very hard to deliver a well-valued service. 

We are delighted to extend the work we currently deliver in Bath and North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, Swindon to Wiltshire. Our focus now is to ensure a quick and seamless transfer for Wiltshire and to continue driving improvements which impact on the care and welfare of the children in the area. - Sue Trinder, Director of SCW CHIS

This is a great example of joined up thinking and is going to have enormous benefits for children and their families. It will enable a more coordinated approach across the region and will lead to earlier support for those that need it. We’re looking forward to working alongside South, Central and West over the coming months, and would like to congratulate the team on the significant progress that has been made so far. - Markus Bolton, Joint Chief Executive of the System C & Graphnet Care Alliance