Advice to Informing Healthcare

A group of international health professionals have met in Cardiff to evaluate and advise the organisation responsible for healthcare IT across Wales.

The International Advisory Group made up of professionals from Canada, the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Scotland and the U.S outlined nine points they wanted Informing Healthcare to take onboard to improve its health IT strategy.

Denis Protti, the founding member of Canada’s health informatics organisation and the chair of the international advisory group, told a conference in Cardiff the panel believed there needed to be a formal evaluation strategy so measurements and comparisons could be made on how well Informing Healthcare is doing.

He said: "We believe it would be wise to have performance metrics, baseline methods and benefits realisation approaches put in place."

The panel also called for a risk management strategy, particularly around the Welsh Clinical Portal. Protti said: "Although it is the view of many that the portal is a design philosophy rather than product, there is a need to look at risks around security, resource requirements and sustainability.

"As it becomes an electronic health record and more things become attached it will create a level of vulnerability, so there is equally a need for risk management in terms of security, confidentiality and consent."

Other suggestions included the need for a change management strategy, a technology awareness strategy, an area of collaboration with social care and for Informing Healthcare to recognise the implications of its chief executive, Dr Gwyn Thomas, taking on a dual role as chief information officer for the Welsh Assembly Government.

Although Informing Healthcare did not present its response, health minister Edwina Hart said she welcomed the suggestions.

She said: "I take onboard the need for a risk management strategy, we know that there is concern about security – I’m not sure we’ve done enough work in that area. We need to make sure we have public confidence in our systems.

"The key theme for me is social care, and alignment between the health and social care is a great priority. It hasn’t gone well for a long time and we’ve never had the integration that we need."

The minister added that she shared concerns about the appointment of the chief executive as the chief information officer for the Welsh Assembly Government and said that there needed to be effective mechanisms in place from the government to support him.

As part of the review, the panel praised Wales’s "pragmatic ‘just do it’" approach and said that it "envied the political support" that the organisation received. It also said it was impressed by its transparency and openness and by the achievements that Wales has made using the small resources it has.

EHI Interview: Sarah Bruce talks to Dr Gwyn Thomas, chief executive of Informing Healthcare, about its plans and his new role as chief information officer for the Welsh Assembly Government.