Believed to be the first of its type in the United Kingdom, an innovative IT project developed by North Lanarkshire Council was runner-up in the Local Government IT Excellence Awards 2007.  The announcement was made at the Annual SOCITM (The Society of Information Technology Management) Conference held in Belfast.

 

The 'mySWIS' Mobile Assessment is a unique tool that allows full Single Shared Assessments (SSAs) to be carried out by the council and partner agencies while in a client's home or hospital ward.  By using this cutting-edge mobile technology, which operates real-time, it allows information gathered during the assessment to be sent, at the touch of a button, directly into the office-based centre, allowing the assessment to enter the system as soon as possible.

 

This new IT system has already delivered positive outcomes, bringing benefits both to staff carrying out the assessments and to service users.

 

Radical changes have taken place to the existing system.  These changes followed a review of SSA in 2005/06 which identified that the current system was heavily paper based, offered little flexibility in call/visit scheduling, required staff to spend significant time in the office and which saw delays in assessment information being updated.

 

The new system has resulted in significant benefits including:-

• An improved service to users which is more responsive to needs.
• Flexibility in call scheduling when visiting service users.
• Minimising required office work which results in spending more quality time with service users.
• Updating information on mySWIS timeously, securely and accurately.
• Reliability and speed of information.
• Improvements to the quality and speed of information which is shared between partner agencies.

A pilot project was undertaken to develop a real-time mobile solution for Single Shared Assessment.  This pilot included the full testing of the mobile assessment with the council and its partners (including NHS Lanarkshire), user training and implementation, and was formally launched on the 29^th of June 2007.

 

Irene Gillespie, Head of e-Government and Service Development, said: "Initial requirements for the project were an improved service for service users, a move to an 'electronic' solution that had a similar look and feel to mySWIS system already in place, flexibility in call scheduling, minimising required office work and updating information to mySWIS timeously, securely and accurately. 

 

 "An in-house technical team was formed to progress the project development for the council and a tender process took place for the technical partners required.  North Lanarkshire Council is at the forefront of service delivery in this area and we're taking this technology further than anyone else.

 

"The selection of a mobile device is a major factor in the project's success as well as the co-ordination of the project specification and having a multi functional technical team in place from the start."

 

"Previously the assessor would visit the office to print base assessment forms for all service user visits, travel to the service user's home, carry out the assessment and record it on paper – this could sometimes involve 20 sheets of paper," explained Mary McLellan, IT Service Manager, Housing and Social Work Services.  "The assessor returns to the office and enters client assessment details in mySWIS, which is automatically shared with partner agencies where appropriate.

 

"This new mobile assessment process involves the assessor travelling to the service user's home, carrying out the assessment and recording information on a tablet PC.  The assessor synchronises assessment with mySWIS and then travels to next service user's home.  It reaches the system with the touch of a button in our service user's home.  It has really made a real difference and has resulted in a positive change to the way SSAs are carried out."

 

Staff adapted easily to using the mobile solution and proved that significant volumes of data can be passed successfully and timeously using mobile communications. 

 

Jane Campbell, Senior Physiotherapist Midas Team (NHS) (Rapid ResponseTeam) user added, "Being able to use the tablet anywhere in the community or hospital enables our team to be more flexible and efficient, cutting down the workload on return to the office, as we can do it at point of contact.  It improves home management and allows us to respond more quickly."

 

By the end of 2007 the council aims to have 40 to 50 tablet PCs available, and over 100 by the end of 2008.  In addition future plans include extending the use of mobile SSA from community care to other care groups, extending the use of the technology to other services of the council and partner agencies.

 

Targets set for 2008 also include delivering a 25% increase in the time care assessors have available to spend with service users and a 25% decrease in the assessment waiting time.

 

Irene added, "North Lanarkshire Council recently introduced a major five-year change management programme - Service and People First – which supports and drives our aim to continuously improve the quality of our services for our residents.  This project is an excellent example of putting service users at the heart of our service delivery."

 

Ends.