Key themes announced for iLINKS X

Empower

Digital technology offers huge potential for empowering people whether it is used to help healthcare professionals communicate better or to enable people to access the care they need quickly and easily.

Through system interoperability, healthcare professionals are increasingly able to access and share patient information, helping to improve efficiency, safety and care quality through joined up care provision.

New digital services are also enabling people to take control of their own health and wellbeing through secure online access to clinicians, personalised health information, digital tools and advice that helps them to better manage their care and conditions.

Across England, one in ten people lack basic digital skills, and nearly six million people having never used the Internet. To help improve digital literacy, initiatives such as the Widening Digital Participation programme aim to help those who lack the confidence and skills to use digital services to access to the right information and support.

iLINKS X will focus on the ways in which data, digital technology and innovation is being used to equip healthcare professionals to deliver safe , efficient and effective care, whilst also empowering people to take control of their own health and wellbeing.

Enhance

The use of digital technology in health and social care can enhance quality, safety, patient experience and outcomes, as well as supporting more integrated care and improving the health of the population. For example, the increased use of electronic processes to support care delivery is starting to reduce our reliance on paper processes and records that cause inefficiency and delays in care.

To encourage on-going improvement and the sharing of best practice, across the NHS, Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) organisations have been identified. A GDE is an internationally recognised, digitally mature, NHS provider delivering exceptional care, efficiently, through the use of world-class digital technology and information.

iLINKS X will focus on the better use of data, digital technology and innovation for enhancing the health and care of the local population. There will be a focus the work taking place locally to improve digital maturity to help eradicate unwarranted variation and reduce fragmentation and duplication.

Connect

Share2Care is the name given to the shared health and social care record programme for people living and working in the North West Coast.

This programme aims to connect and support the integration of local health and care organisations by delivering an electronic shared health and care record as a fundamental tool for the delivery of safe, timely and effective care.

Through the Share2Care programme, every health and social care practitioner will have the ability to directly access the information they need, in near real time, wherever it is held, digitally on a 24/7 basis. Healthcare professionals will be digitally skilled with the appropriate technology and culture to enable rather than disable effective working through technology.

iLINKS X aims to introduce the Share2Care programme, key workstreams and how this will be instrumental in supporting new models of care, disease prevention, the shift to out of hospital care and local drive towards system-wide sustainability.

Innovate

Cheshire and Merseyside is a leader in digital care and innovation, with some of the most digitally mature organisations and vibrant digital sectors in the UK.

As a region, there is a shared commitment to constantly innovate and improve in order to identify ways in which the better use of data and digital technology can enhance health and care services.

Secure

The use of digital technology to enable information sharing across organisational boundaries will help support joined up care provision, leading to greater efficiency and quality of care. However, in order to support this digital transformation, a robust approach to data and cyber security is required in order to ensure systems operate securely and that information is managed in accordance with the appropriate governance.

iLINKS X will provide an overview of the important IT security work taking place locally across Cheshire and Merseyside to deliver resilience and technical assurance.