Digital transformation programme in Sussex nominated for two national awards

343 entries have been received for this year’s Digital Awards, with 165 projects and individuals meriting inclusion on the final shortlist. The high volume - and exceptional quality – of applications once again mirrors the impressive levels of innovation and care continually being developed across the UK’s healthcare system.

My Health and Care Record and e-Meet and Greet projects have been nominated for the “Empowering patients through digital” and “Supporting elective recovery through digital” categories.

My Health and Care Record (MHR) is an Electronic Health Record and Sussex Patient Engagement Portal that provides medical information to patients and facilitates remote clinical pathways. This platform releases almost one million blood tests and nearly 40,000 appointments weekly to registered patients. Access to their results has empowered patients to take control of their health, enabled deeper understanding and alleviated anxiety from delayed results. Remote clinical pathways have also created efficiencies for clinical and administrative staff with reduced calls to enquire about the results or appointments.

E-Meet and Greet has improved patient experience for the period of inactive waiting when referred for elective care, as well as improving our elective recovery clinical systems. This was achieved through enhancing the functionality of the MHCR patient portal and interoperability with the NHS App. Five thousand patients successfully received notification of their referral to a waiting list every 12, 26, and 52-week intervals to keep them informed. 17,000 patients were successfully onboarded to MHCR who will benefit from waiting well resources, pre-screening questionnaires, and other implemented features.

Dan Hughes, Our Care Connected, Programme Director said:

Making the HSJ Digital shortlist is an exceptional achievement for our programme. I am hugely proud of our team for always going above-and-beyond to improve patient outcomes and quality of care.

“Our projects demonstrate the power of health technology to transform healthcare for our Sussex health population. Through My Health and Care Record, 500,000 registered adult patients receive vital medical information to allow them to make active and informed choices to improve their health conditions”.

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, added:

“It always gives me great pleasure to congratulate our finalists at this stage of the judging process and this year is no exception as we acknowledge Sussex Health and Care ICS for being shortlisted in the categories of “Empowering patients through digital” and “Supporting elective recovery through digital.

“We can’t wait to welcome our finalists to the awards ceremony in June, celebrating their impressive achievements and jointly acknowledging our values of sharing best practice, improving patient outcomes and continuously driving for better service.”

The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Manchester Central on 6th June 2024.

The 2024 awards judging panel was once again made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community, including; Olubukola (Buki) Adeyemo, Chief Executive, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, Hatim Abdulhussein, National Clinical Lead, AI and Digital Workforce (WT&E), NHS England, Dame Margaret Whitehead, Chair, Independent Review Equity in Medical Devices and Luke Readman, Regional Director of Digital Transformation, NHS England (London).