Stockport Council has announced its plan to work on a digital patient journey management system aimed at overcoming blockages to hospital discharges for those waiting to go into adult social care.
The proposed solution has received £82,000 for the project from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) under the new allocations from its Local Digital Fund.
It aimed at dealing with a major problem for the NHS is and local authorities in supporting the transfer of patients between hospitals and social care.
The council said it will work on the project with Manchester City Council, Oldham Council and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.
It is aiming to develop a solution that that tracks a patient’s steps through different parts of the system and triggers alerts where blockages occur, or people are ‘stuck’ in the system. It will be based on the idea that having instant access to demand and capacity data across health and social care partners would increase the visibility of who is ready to be discharged and vacant capacity in the system.
National problem
Cllr Malcolm Allan, cabinet member for finance and resources. said: “Improving the processes of hospital admittal and subsequent discharge to their own home is a national problem.
“This award reflects Stockport’s track record of using data to develop digital tools to resolve problems. We will be exploring a solution that will benefit around 55,000 people per year in Stockport and has the potential to be scaled up nationally.”
Cllr Keith Holloway, cabinet member for health and adult social care, said: “Streamlining how we work together, how we communicate and pass information to each other, and how we record and report data from the systems we use will help us to transform Stockport’s Intermediate Care offer, use existing capacity more effectively and improve the overall experience for the individuals who use our services.”
