What is encompass?
encompass is a Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI) wide initiative introducing a clinically and operationally led integrated care record to every citizen in Northern Ireland. Social Workers from across all programmes of care have been working closely with Epic (the company powering encompass) to design workflows and standardise content for use across Northern Ireland.
This electronic health and social care record is intended to be a single, digital record for each person which will record the health and social care needs of a person for the whole of their life. This system should provide patients and service users with a safe and high quality of care.
Why are we doing this?
The HSC currently uses lots of different systems which cannot easily, communicate with each other. Many of these systems are old, outdated, and require replacement. Rather than continuing to rely on paper records and replacing technology on a system-by-system basis, the aim is that using encompass will provide one source of information and rebuild the way we care for people in Northern Ireland.
This clinical transformation for care providers, patients and service users should ensure Northern Ireland Health and Social Care system which is not just sustainable and – will create an effective and safe experience for our patients, service users and staff.
What does encompass mean for health and social care staff?
With this single electronic system, everyone will be able to access the same patient/service user record and see the same story. Digital safety checks will be built into the system for health care such as allergies, infection risks and dose checking, to name a few; and for social care such as child or adult protection status, social and environmental vulnerabilities and risk management plans, etc.
This means staff will:
- Spend less time chasing records and filling in duplicate forms and have more time to provide care.
- Link visits and appointments to the care record which allows quick and easy access to plans and notes.
- Be able to access information within seconds and be able to make more informed decisions.
- See increased standardisation in practices across HSC Trusts in NI.
- Be able to provide safer and higher quality of care.
- Use mobile devices to access the record from the service user’s home.
encompass will bring some new language and terminology with which staff will need to become familiar. Social workers and social care staff will manage their caseloads and schedules in the same system they use for assessments and case notes, with clinical colleagues contributing to the same record for the patient/service user.
What does encompass mean for patients and service users?
A single health and social care operating system for citizens across Northern Ireland aims to result in:
- Less repetition – people spending less time telling their story over and over again to different health and social care providers and less time undergoing repeat tests and/or assessments.
- Improved quality and consistency of care – using NICE standards to design one system for all of Northern Ireland.
- Increased ownership of the health and social care journey – a portal will allow service users to access their health and social care records, schedule appointments, track tasks, and be more empowered in their personal health and care journey.
- Improved safety – Complex health and social care needs will be managed across all statutory providers of health and social care in partnership with patients and service users.
- People will receive an effective, safe and world class experience.
For further information click link below.
https://dhcni.hscni.net/digital-portfolio/encompass/
Reflective learning exercise
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