Central Surrey Health - Improving Information Governance
Central Surrey Health (CSH) provides therapy and community nursing services to the 280,000 strong population of central Surrey. It was the first social enterprise to come out of the NHS, and is owned and run by the 700+ nurses and therapists it employs. Its ethos is to combine the values and principles of the NHS with the 'can do' culture of a successfully run business.
CSH were presented with a challenge to improve upon their existing Information Governance (IG) performance and ensure a minimum of level 2 compliance with the requirements of the Information Governance Toolkit.
A self assessment review of the IG toolkit was completed in 2009 and an action plan for improvement was developed. Progress against the plan was being made with specific developments taking place to address the key risks to CSH:
To further mitigate against the risks and create a robust IG framework, Medical Mosaic were appointed to manage an improvement programme to ensure CSH were fully compliant with their Information Governance responsibilities.
Working across the organisation, the programme involved:
- Identifying gaps in existing policies and procedures, prioritising and developing those that were crucial in establishing robust IG within CSH
- Defining the framework and its processes under which effective Information Governance could operate in CSH
- Identifying where responsibility should lie for IG within the organisation’s day-to-day patient care activities
- Providing expert training for individuals with IG responsibility
- Developing and rolling out an IG awareness programme for all CSH co-owners
- Undertaking the IG Self Assessment to ensure that CSH achieved the NHS Statement of Compliance
Medical Mosaic provided the energy and the drive to ensure effective implementation including:
- Structured project management
- Detailed communication to all levels
- Rigorous risk and issue management
- Subject matter expertise
The results of the approach undertaken by Medial Mosaic were seen immediately. There was an increase in awareness of IG across the organisation including an understanding of how to manage IG issues. The processes implemented ensured that errors in the handling of patient-based information would be quickly detected and dealt with within appropriate guidelines.
The latest assessment against the IG Toolkit has demonstrated the effectiveness of the Medical Mosaic approach. Level 2 compliance has been achieved in all major categories with a structured and managed approach to IG being in place at all levels.
In addition to this work, Medical Mosaic has been further commissioned by CSH to provide a full IG Helpdesk and support service providing expert advice and management of all IG issues. This specialist service covers:
- Direct support to CSH co-owners with any IG queries or incidents
- Management of IG queries and guaranteed response times
- Management and progression of any risks and issues associated with the incidents to resolution
- Further development of the IG framework including policy changes and refreshing the approach to IG training.
The helpdesk approach has proved to be a cost effective and efficient method to meet all of CSH’s IG requirements.
Mike Davis, Exec Lead for IM&T at CSH commented: “Through Medical Mosaic, we have established an Information Governance support service that delivers the assurance and responsiveness that our patients and co-owners demand.”
For further information on how Medical Mosaic can assist your organisation to meet its Information Governance responsibilities, please contact Steve Box (steve.box@medmosaic.co.uk). For a PDF version of this case study please click here