Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) is planning to deliver a new app based service to support decision making in health and social care, saying it will be the first of its kind in the UK.
The organisation, which runs a group of work programmes to support care in the country, said the Right Decision Service (RDS) is currently in a pilot version, linking various apps and online tools including clinical guidelines and other resources.
It plans to further develop the service by bringing them together under one app.
This is aimed at ensuring that people are directed to the type and location of care that will be of real value to them.
HIS said it is estimated that up to 20% of all healthcare is of no value to the people receiving it. This is partly because current guidelines and tools to support care exist in a variety of locations, which makes it difficult for professionals to easily access those that are most valuable to a specific case.
A pilot of RDS in primary care electronic health record systems in 2021-22 found that 82% of clinicians found it helpful in identifying and mitigating clinical risk to patients.
Government backing
The Scottish Government has now provided £525,000 in funding for its further development in bringing the sources together on one app, with HIS taking on the lead role from the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre.
It said its now step will be to develop a timeline for the next phase of work.
Health Secretary Michael Matheson said: “This is a groundbreaking example of a digital service that has been developed and piloted with our partners Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI) through to delivery.
“The programme is now transitioning into a national service in support of our workforce to be led by a national NHS Board (HIS) and highlights the success of our collaborative approach.”
Dr Ann Wales, programme lead for knowledge and decision support at the DHI, commented: “The Once for Scotland Right Decisions app is a step change in support for evidence based health and social care decisions.
“It harnesses the power of evidence and technology to bring decision making tools to the fingertips of health and social care practitioners. It frees up practitioner time to care, enables safer, more consistent care and support across Scotland, and strengthens the focus on individuals’ needs.”
RDS also provides decision support tools include apps to manage patient flow for unscheduled care, prescribing safety alerts in primary care systems, and a web and mobile toolkit for assessment and management of common healthcare issues by social care providers.
