In September 2015, Sunderland GP Alliance submitted a business case to the Primary Care Infrastructure Fund through NHS England to fund laptops for use by MDT’s. We are delighted to inform you that we were successful in securing the funding and have purchased 35 laptops to support mobile working.
As part of the Integrated Teams project, EMIS Community has been rolled out city-wide, and community nursing teams are currently using mobile devices that enable access to patient records while delivering care either in the patient’s home or within care homes. In order to provide the same high quality and efficient service to patients city-wide, GPs will now have access to EMIS while on visits and whilst attending multi-disciplinary team meetings.
Maggie Stewart MDT Coordinator in the Washington locality said,
“It is very useful for the practices to be able to access real-time information that is available to the GP practice whilst in the meetings which are often held away from the GP consulting room.
The result is that we have a more comprehensive picture of the patient and therefore can support the patient more effectively. This is an excellent example of where up to date technology can be used to best effect within the multidisciplinary team meetings”
More efficient working will, in turn, free up GP capacity. The development of mobile working in the context of highly complex patients will reduce the administrative burden on GPs, and ensure they maximise their clinical capacity.
One GP practice that has benefited from having a laptop available during MDT meetings is Dr Stephenson & Partners in the Washington locality. June Pace, Practice Manager said,
“As a practice we have found being able to access the clinical system at the point of team discussion via a laptop within the meeting room very beneficial. Having access to WIFI in the building enables the Healthcare and Social Care staff to access relevant information on their system more readily.
The team report quicker access to relevant and up-to-date information at the point of discussion very beneficial to the whole Integrated Care process and patient care. Having access to the Patient Health and Social Care Plan (PHSCP), that is populated with all of the background medical/social care information at the time of MDT enables easier identification of issues that need to be addressed. The plan can then be easily updated by the MDT Co-ordinator at the meeting, making a more efficient use of time and resources.
The team report that the quality of documentation is therefore much more improved due to the input of the whole MDT team at the time of meeting.”
This demonstrates the value of a proactive, multi-disciplinary approach to care planning and delivery and enables healthcare professionals to work efficiently as a team.
For more information please contact Judith Taylor, Contract Delivery Manager, 0191 516 6076 or [email protected]