NHS England chooses care record exemplars

NHS England has chosen Greater Manchester, Wessex and One London as its Local Health and Care Record Exemplars (LHCREs).

Bids for the national investment in shared health records were due at the end of April 2018, and the LHCREs selected will receive up to £7.5m in national investment over two years, which they must individually match. 

The three regions cover a total of 14 million people, and NHS England’s CIO, Will Smart, said the aim is for the three areas to raise the bar “for how the NHS can improve care through technology”.

“By sharing information across a larger population, we can ensure that as people move across the different parts of the NHS and social care, they don’t have to repeat themselves and provide the same information time and again,” he said.

“We were very impressed by the standard of bids we received and the ambition across the country, in the coming weeks we will be talking to those remaining areas to understand which two are ready to join the initial group this year.”

As Computer Weekly reported in April, shared care records have been around in the NHS for a long time, but it’s only recently that the health service is beginning to get the balance right between patient care, privacy and feasibility.

Those regions recognised as being leaders in the field were invited to bid for the funding. One of the winning areas, Greater Manchester – led by Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which is formed by the region’s CCGs joining up together – has already been working on shared care records for nearly four years.  

The regions that have not been invited to bid, or weren’t chosen as the lucky few, will be expected to replicate what those who received funding are doing.

Each of the three LCHREs are made up of one or several Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs), and the aim is for the new partnerships to better understand the demand for local health and care services, and to be able to plan for future demand.  

Health minister James O’Shaughnessy said patients expect that “wherever they’re being treated in the NHS, doctors and nurses will have access to all the vital information they need”. 

“Building on successful projects across England, this new programme will make that a reality for millions of patients – with the potential to improve care and save lives,” he said.