Transforming health services
Map of Medicine is helping modernise health service delivery in Wales. It was selected recently by Informing Healthcare Wales (IHC), a Welsh Assembly programme to help deliver world-class health and social care. The Map will provide on-line knowledge support for all NHS staff in Wales.
The role for Map of Medicine
It was chosen both to deliver current evidence-based clinical knowledge from the world’s most authoritative sources and to provide a tool healthcare teams can use to design new patient pathways.
As communities localise pathways and add information about services in their area, the Map will communicate the changes quickly across the whole healthcare system.
Milestones
- A comprehensive two year evaluation in real operational conditions, involving over 3,000 users. It demonstrated the Map’s value in communicating both national and local patient pathways to deliver improvements in care
- Local administrative and management information was added throughout the evaluation period, creating a healthcare knowledge system designed specifically for local communities
- On time, on budget implementation in trial sites and no issues with staff acceptance.
Challenges
- A key problem IHC identified was the ‘information overload’ clinicians faced, magnified by increasing time pressures and the growing complexity of care
- IHC also needed a solution to support service modernisation and re-design across Wales.
Results
The Map measured up against 14 detailed ‘benefit profiles’ IHC developed with guidance from the UK government’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC). Surveys of trial users found over 85% of medical staff found the Map useful and easy to use. Clinicians reported better understanding of certain diseases, less unnecessary pathology testing and greater confidence working outside their areas of expertise. Managers reported better communication between providers and a more unified approach.