News
St Helens shortens assessment process for adult care by 50% with
mobile technology
17 June 2009
St Helens Adult Social Care and Health Department has rolled out an
electronic system for the Single Assessment Process (eSAP) for planning
care needs of older people. The system has removed the need for
paper-based case documents and cut the time taken to undertake the
assessments.
St Helens has been working with specialist IT systems supplier
Liquidlogic since June 2008 to implement the company's Protocol eSAP
system. This has been enhanced with ‘briefcase functionality’ to enable
practitioners make safe and secure assessments in the homes of clients
without having to bring paper-based forms back to the office for data
input.
Liquidlogic’s eSAP system was initially rolled out to 180
practitioners responsible for the care of the over-65s across the
borough. This has now been extended to include the remaining 120
practitioners in the Adult Department.
St Helens required a robust technical solution to deliver the
requirements of the multi-agency, multi-professional framework of
assessment across health and social care organisations.
The council needed to replace its existing paper-based SAP system
with one that would significantly reduce the need for duplication of
paper-based case documents so that staff time could be utilised more
effectively. It was therefore imperative that the new eSAP system could
support mobile working practices and eradicate duplication.
Linda Thorley, St Helens’ SAP Project manager commented, “Protocol’s
Briefcase capabilities have been a real winner with social workers. New
mobile working practices have enabled practitioners to undertake online
assessments in half the time that they did before and has given them the
opportunity to spend more quality time with clients — something every
social care provider wants to prioritise.”
Liquidlogic’s eSAP system is designed to solve the complexities of
integrating different networks, account administration and hardware
requirements across disparate locations to facilitate shared working
practices.
It allows practitioners to use a shared assessment worksheet, via an
internet-based assessment tool. The new system has made the job much
easier for care practitioners at St Helens as it has streamlined the way
referrals are made to other colleagues within the organisation and other
external partner agencies.
The system has also reduced duplication of information gathering by
giving practitioners the capability to copy-forward previous assessments
and utilise this information effectively.
St Helens has been a big advocate of mobile working for many years
and made a significant hardware investment in 2004, with the roll-out of
260 laptops and docking stations (desk-based screens and keyboards) to
90 adult health and social care practitioners across the borough. Only a
few replacement laptops were consequently needed to support the first
two stages of the eSAP project.
The next stage has just been finalised and will result in the eSAP
project being extended to include 600 additional users from St Helen’s
health partner organisation, the Halton & St Helens Primary Care Trust.
The PCT intends to experiment with laptops and tablet PCs to ascertain
which mobile device would best serve health care workers and the
roll-out is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.
“Liquidlogic’s understanding of our business requirements is second
to none. The ability and willingness of a software vendor to keep up
with policy direction and change is key and Liquidlogic demonstrates
this by maintaining an expert knowledge base through collaborative
projects with academic institutes and policy shapers and by engaging in
developmental and innovative projects with its customers,” adds Thorley.
Denise Harrison, Liquidlogic’s Sales and Marketing Director said: “St
Helens has been quick to recognise the benefits of mobile working for
health and social care practitioners and is leading the way with better
working practices that enhance efficiencies and multi-agency
collaboration and enable practitioners to spend more quality time with
clients.
"Liquidlogic’s Briefcase software is encrypted to high security
standards and meets stringent data protection requirements and we are
delighted that it is increasingly becoming adopted by local authorities
across the UK to support their joint working with health colleagues and
partner agencies in the 3rd sector”.
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