Sharing Information - Partner Organisations
As part of a national programme we are working closely with our partner organisations, social care providers and Integrated Care System (ICS) groups to integrate clinical systems.
As part of a national programme we are working closely with our partner organisations, social care providers and Integrated Care System (ICS) groups to integrate clinical systems.
SECAmb covers a wide geographic footprint covering the Surrey, North Hampshire, Kent and Sussex localities.
As part of a national programme we are working closely with our partner organisations, social care providers and Integrated Care System (ICS) groups to integrate clinical systems.
This integration programme involves the sharing and contributing of SECAmb patient care records with our regional partners so that it is accessible via their shared care records. It supports the ongoing delivery of patient care and aids clinical decision making leading to better patient outcomes.
The integration of records for the Surrey, North Hampshire and Kent localities has been completed, with work ongoing across Sussex to gain access to their shared care record.
Ambulance Data Sets (ADS)
South East Coast Ambulance Service routinely collect information from the initial contact when we receive a call in the 999 Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) through to completing an electronic patient record (EPR) with information about the patient and care we provide, when we attend an incident. Some of this information goes on to form part of the Ambulance Data Set (ADS).
If a patient is transferred from ambulance services to the care of an Emergency Department, information within the Ambulance Data Set is subsequently linked with key information collected in Emergency Departments as part of the Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS).
The purpose of this is to fully understand the patient’s journey from the ambulance service to other urgent and emergency healthcare settings. This will enable clinicians, ambulance services and the NHS to learn from patient journeys and further improve the care they provide in the future.
Data collected by ambulance services and emergency departments is securely linked and transferred to us. Data collected as part of the Ambulance Data Set is shared with NHS Digital* – a section of NHS England specialised in data and IT systems – where it is linked with key relevant information in the Emergency Care Data Set and securely returned to us.
This linked information includes a unique number generated by us during the initial 999 call, as well as a unique vehicle reference which will help us re-identify the original care record for the incident and the patient.
Appropriate access to this information will enable us to help develop the skills of our clinicians to improve the care they provide and support us in delivering service improvements to improve patient experience.
Patients will be able to opt out from this process, therefore disabling linking of data collected about their emergency episode of care, if they so wish, Please click here for more information.
The lawful bases under common law for this process are as follows:
For the ambulance service to process this information the lawful basis is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is Article 6 (1)(e) – “…exercise of official authority” and for processing special categories (health) data the basis is: Article 9(2)(h) – ‘…health or social care…’ of the GDPR Regulations.
For the data collected by ambulance services (ADS) to be linked with relevant data items collected at Emergency Departments (ECDS) the lawful basis is the Sections 254(1), (3), (5) and (6), section 260(2)(d), section 261(2)(e) and section 304(9), (10) and (12) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, as per the Ambulance Data Set Directions 2022.
To share linked data back with ambulance services, NHS England on behalf of Ambulance Services, have obtained a Section 251 approval, as required by the NHS Act 2006 and Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002.
Overall, the above provides a legal bases for patient information to be processed for these purposes.
*= NHS Digital officially merged with NHS England on 1st Feb 2023, therefore the organisation previously known as NHS Digital is legally known as NHS England and data held by NHS Digital is now held within NHS England.
Further information relating to these programmes, including associated Privacy Notices and FAQs may be accessed via the following links below:
NHS England commission Urgent Community Response (UCR’s) to respond to individuals with an urgent health or social care need. These teams provide short-term support, to diagnose and treat conditions, provide appropriate equipment and care to the patient, to prevent a hospital admission. As part of direct patient care SECAmb is now working with its UCR teams who will review lower category call patients and where clinically appropriate accept these into their UCR commissioned pathway. All these services conform to Data Security & Protection Toolkit requirements and Information Governance obligations.
There are 19 teams within the SECAmb region which the Trust is working closely with. Each UCR is hosted by an NHS organisation / NHS provider. Their operating hours may be variable but typically this is between 08:00 – 20:00, 7 days a week.
https://www.thamesvalleysurreycarerecords.net/
https://www.kentandmedwayccg.nhs.uk/about-us/who-we-are/ICS/kent-and-medway-care-record
https://www.sussexhealthandcare.uk/priorities/digital/plexus-care-record/
This is the senior governance group for the analyst community across Kent and Medway. Your information will be passed, with all identifiers removed, to a collaborative programme called the Kent & Medway Shared Health and Care Analytics Board. It will be used for population health management purposes beyond your individual care, including, for example, planning services, managing finances, early treatment of illnesses (known as risk stratification), co-ordinating and improving patient and service user’s movement through the health and care system, research, and public health enhancement.
Further information can be found on the NHS Kent & Medway Website
https://www.kmhealthandcare.uk/transformation-projects/kent-and-medway-care-record