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Opusflow successfully helps GP Federation deliver the Prime Ministers Challenge Fund

“We needed to complete an urgent piece of detailed planning to support a large multi-million pound bid. James from Opusflow was engaged to deliver structured and detailed Programme and Project Planning - to act as a baseline in our submission. His ability to quickly understand the complexity of the task at hand, and get on to deliver the foundations of our proposal were invaluable. We will certainly appoint James to roles in the future where that is possible.”

Graeme Cleland, Managing Director, Taurus Healthcare

Executive Summary

Two GP Federations in Herefordshire & Worcestershire contracted Opusflow as the IT lead to deliver the Prime Ministers £50 million Challenge Fund, a pilot to improve access to general practice and stimulate innovative ways of providing primary care services. 

 

Opusflow provided IT consultancy services and practical project management for two GP Federations - Taurus Healthcare in Herefordshire and SW Healthcare in South Worcestershire.

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  • Patients were more easily able to speak to a clinical professional 

  • More appointment slots available to patients across country 7 days a week 

  • Reduce demand and release capacity in GP Practices

  • Increased continuity of care for patients with long term conditions

 

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Challenges and Achievements

Data Sharing. A key enabler to deliver this pilot was single access to patient’s primary care records across all GP practices rolled into the pilot.  Working with the system provider Emis Health and Opusflow the practices could implement a system that enabled clinicians to access all patients GP records from a single point of access.

 

Access to N3.  All clinical systems sit on the NHS private network known as N3.  Working with both BTN3 and N3 Aggregators Opusflow delivered N3 access within a short time frame ensuring the Federation could meet the overall project timescales.

 

Telephony. The Clinical Contact Centre required a telephony system that monitored activity, generated reports, recorded all clinical conversations (an IG requirement), and delivered a Dashboard.  With Opusflow’s support, the Federation’s engaged with other clinical hubs to identify suitable telephony providers and managed the implementation of a system that delivered the above requirements of the Clinical Contact Centre.

 

Emis Web Design.  All GP Practices in Herefordshire and Worcestershire use Emis Web.  The system had to be designed to support data sharing and access to patient records whilst adhering to stringent IG requirements. Opusflow worked with Emis Health, clinicians and practice staff to design and implement these processes in a way which provided a single point of access to over 300k records while maintaining their clinical security.


Support & Training. Clinicians and staff delivering the pilot were dispersed over a large geographical area.  Due to the nature of the pilot, information changed rapidly, Opusflow supported the Federation to allow them to develop an innovative solution via an online portal to keep them informed to give them easy access to useful information, user guides and videos. 

Key Achievements

Delivered the IT workstreams that provided services to deliver the governments challenge to release capacity in General Practice through;

 

  • 3 clinical hubs across Herefordshire to deliver extended hours for face to face consultations

  • A Clinical Contact Centre to deliver extended GP hours and improve access to general practice through telephone and Skype consultations

  • Enabling clinicians to remotely access clinical records and deliver consultations at point of care

  • Develop the blueprint that will play a pivotal role on how health care and services will be delivered in the future

 

 

  • Project planning for bid applications

  • Set up project management portals for collaboration with project teams, stakeholders and suppliers

  • Developed an online Knowledge Base for Federation staff, clinicians and suppliers

  • Assisted with IG Toolkit and IG SoC applications for non NHS Organisations to use N3

  • Delivered N3 Aggregator (Redcentric) for alternative access to N3

  • Assisted with data sharing of Patient Care Records across the Federation estate (56 GP Practices)

  • Developed Emis Web workflows for cross organisational sharing of appointment books, tasks and documents 

  • Configured IT kit (laptops, desktops, printers) for Federation staff to work in Clinical Contact Centre, community hospitals and locality hubs

  • Configured Emis Anywhere Tablets for remote access to patient care records and Electronic Prescribing (EPS)

  • Trained staff (receptionists and clinicians) on data sharing processes and workflows

  • Worked with BT N3SP procuring, enabling and configuring N3 connectivity and wireless networks for hubs

  • Worked with suppliers and stakeholders delivering virtual hubs, digital patient facing portals and Interoperability solutions

  • Delivered Smartcard Management for easier access to Emis Web and Trust Domains

  • Rolled out technologies such as video conferencing solutions, mobile working and web technologies to deliver services

  • Delivered IT Infrastructure to support Federation staff such as Enterprise email and Document Management systems

Summary of our work

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