£6.7m investment in new IT system to integrate NHS and social services in Wales

A multi-million pound investment will be made in a new IT system to further integrate health and social care in Wales, Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford announced today.

The Welsh Government is investing £6.7m to develop a new Community Care Information Solution (CCIS), which will allow information to be shared between different health and social services instantly, helping to deliver improved care and support for people across Wales.

The new system will enable health, social services, mental health, therapy and community services to ensure services and support for individuals, families and communities are more effectively planned, co-ordinated, and delivered. It will support information sharing requirements, case management and workflow for the organisations across Wales.

CCIS will interface with a range of different systems across local authorities and NHS organisations. It covers processes undertaken by community health and social care workers, and across primary, community and secondary care settings, to show where a patient is within their treatment journey and alerting health professionals to key data, which will aid efficient treatment.

The £6.7m capital grant will allow Bridgend County Borough Council to take forward the first phase of the implementation and to create the national infrastructure to enable all social care and health organisations in Wales to benefit from the new system.

With the national hardware and all-Wales licences paid for by this £6.7m capital grant, all Local Councils and Health Boards will be able to implement the new system at a fraction of the normal costs of system replacement as they no longer have to pay for hardware or licences.

The investment is part of the recently announced £14.9m package of Welsh Government capital funding for the NHS, which was announced in January.

Professor Drakeford said:

“The investment I’m announcing today demonstrates our commitment to putting people first.

“This new system has been developed in response to the growing need to integrate health and social care. It will allow professionals in social care, community health and mental health to access and share information across organisational boundaries.

“The new system will make it easier for these services to work together to deliver improved services and support for individuals, families and communities across Wales.”

Councillor Mel Nott OBE, Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council, said:

“Bridgend County Borough Council is proud to be acting as the lead local authority for this project, which will lead to seamless information sharing between organisations and an improved health and social care service for the community.

“Moving away from individual stand-alone systems will be of particular use in supporting emergency and out-of-hours services, and will enable health and social care services to work in a closer, far more effective manner.”

Michael Dolan, CEO of Careworks said:

“We’re delighted to be part of this nationally important project to bring together health and social care in Wales.

Our CareDirector solution will be the single health and social care system across Wales. Bringing information together in a single national system will help health and care professionals to work better together for the benefit of patients and their families across the country.

The Welsh Government funding announced today also means that Local Councils and Regional Health Boards can replace their legacy systems at a fraction of the normal cost.”