Comment: The role of technology solutions in enabling ICSs to drive service transformation
Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) were legally established six months ago, and are responsible for implementing strategies across systems, places and neighbourhoods – within localities to ensure patients and citizens can access health and care services, aligned to their needs. A key focus of ICSs is improving population health whilst being focused on system outcomes.
ICSs are aiming to transform the way high quality services are delivered to local populations, using data, information and insight from health and care sector daily outputs to make this possible.
Gavin Bashar, UK Managing Director at Tunstall Healthcare, shares insight on how technology solutions and services will be instrumental in enabling ICSs to drive service transformation, resulting in improved experiences for citizens.
We are at a pivotal place when it comes to aligning and integrating services through ICSs and it’s crucial that technology solutions and services are included at the outset of strategy development.
Our solutions must support ICSs’ objectives and their focus on: driving quality, reducing inequalities, best practice, transformation and enabling the appropriate use of digital health and care for patients and citizens.
The improved ‘connectivity’ between health and care within ICSs will enable the necessary transformation of services. ICSs will support their citizens, community, and workforce, all of whom will be the real driving force behind transformation.
Technology enabled care services’ (TECS’) solutions will be crucial, and their importance to health and care shouldn’t be underestimated. For example, TECS can help monitor citizens’ health and care needs in the community, and help to prevent admission or readmission; they can support hospital discharge and enable preventative care, which are all key elements in improving services.
Education, communication and de-mystification across ICSs covering but not limited to citizens, patients, workforce (paid and voluntary) and communities, will be essential if we want to adopt and embed TECS.
As we transform services, outcomes need to instil ICS-wide confidence, which will ensure we build strong foundations for the future of health and care provision. Scaling these transformative solutions will support professionals, by increasing their efficiency, and improving capacity for them to provide care across communities.
By aligning the required outcomes with stakeholders’ needs and expectations, we can have a positive impact that will improve service provision across health and social care.
Our collective experience, supported by the introduction of the ICSs who are tasked with ensuring equality of care, should improve citizen experience and help keep people at home for longer.
Through identifying the needs via the individuals’ ‘lens’, and understanding that populations are diverse, we can provide better services. When ICSs collaborate effectively across health, social care, housing and the voluntary sector, all citizens should receive better care with improved outcomes.
Technology solutions will enable ICSs to meet citizen expectations, and drive improvements in quality, equity, resources, and ultimately population health.
