Digital care plans by 2015

Everyone with a long-term condition or disability must have a digital personalised care plan accessible online or via a mobile phone app by 2015, under a package of measures launched today by NHS England.

Transforming Participation in Health and Care is online guidance to commissioners that promotes the use of technology to put patients and their carers at the centre of treatment decision making.

The NHS Mandate set an objective that everyone with a long-term condition will be offered a personalised care plan. The new guidance says this must be digitally accessible.

It says that NHS England will develop and implement a best practice standard that defines what good, personalised, digital care plans look like, in order to support GPs and health professionals to create patient plans during 2014.

It will also launch a new certification process for entrepreneurs to, “easily offer online tools and services that support personalisation, to help commissioners to identify high quality suppliers”.

Anyone who can benefit should have a personal health budget and digital care plan by April 2015.

The guidance has been launched today at the Commissioning Assembly being held at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham.

It aims to embed patient insight and feedback more systematically into the workings of the NHS

This includes rolling out the Friends and Family Test to cover all NHS services by April 2015 and publishing feedback drawn from a variety of sources through the Patient Insight Dashboard, by this autumn.

NHS England will also develop Patient Centred Outcome Measures for 20 different specialised services.

“We will design measurement systems to understand what outcomes people want and create ways these can be shared, compared and understood,” the guidance says.

“This will help build the evidence base for the effectiveness of treatments, therapies and interventions.

“As well as being a rich source of data, it will provide a network of online communities that enable patients with rare conditions, or requiring specialised treatment to establish peer networks providing mutually beneficial help, advice and support.”

NHS England’s national director for patients and information Tim Kelsey said the package of measures announced today will truly transform the way people participate in the health and care provided by the NHS.

“Not only will this improve outcomes and quality of life for patients, but it will provide value for money,” he said.

“This is another radical and positive step by the NHS towards putting our customers – our patients and their carers – at the very centre of all that we do,” added Kelsey.

“It will also mean patients and carers, supported by GPs and health care professionals, can participate in planning, managing and making decisions about their care and treatment – providing them with their own digital care plan they can access online or through a telephone app.”

The guidance says commissioners must engage with the public when redesigning or reconfiguring healthcare services and demonstrate how this has informed their decisions.

A new Patient and Public Voice Commissioning Support Programme will help build expertise in this area.

CCGs will be required to publish annual evidence of what ‘patient and public voice’ activity has been conducted and a national Excellence in Participation Awards scheme will promote best practice.

Today’s guidance also establishes a national Citizens Assembly to, “give patients and the public a voice at the heart of decision making and hold the board of NHS England to account”.