What is IBIS?

IBIS is designed to enable ambulance clinicians to have up to date information about a patient’s health, their care plans, their needs and wishes. It also allows the ambulance service to play an integral part in the pro-active management and ongoing care of patients in partnership with community teams. Teams can use IBIS to monitor and manage their patients’ 999 interactions, as well as use it as a foundation for Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings.

Patient Care Plans

The main function of IBIS is to store patient care plans, uploaded from Community Care Teams. Care plans stored on IBIS contain specific clinical instructions regarding treatment of a patient’s chronic/long-term conditions. They often include the patient’s wishes for treatment and preferred place of care, especially in End-of-Life circumstances. Ambulance clinicians will usually have never before met the patient they are treating. It can be like detective work trying to find out who is involved in the patient’s care and what has been happening up to that point. With approx. 80% of a diagnosis and subsequent treatment plan being based on a good history, a lack of information can lead to ambulance clinicians making incorrect care decisions. Often patients will unnecessarily be conveyed to A&E when they could have been cared for in the community. IBIS prevents ambulance clinicians from ‘going in blind’ with a patient, allows them to make fully informed decisions, and stops them treating long term conditions as if they are new.

IBIS is used by many healthcare teams, predominantly specialist Health Care Professionals (e.g. respiratory/heart failure nurses, community matrons/district nurses and mental health teams) however many GP surgeries and pro-active care teams are using it too. There are also some non NHS teams on IBIS; such as Social Services, housing services and hospices. Although mainly used by community teams, there are also some Acute Trusts using IBIS to share their anticipatory/contingency care plans with SECAmb.

IBIS currently holds over 40,000 patient care plans, and has a conveyance rate (the number of patients we take to hospital) of around 35% (compared to SECAmb’s background conveyance rate of 50%). On average, every month 685 conveyances to A&E are avoided, equating to 345 avoided hospital admissions. This demonstrates that the use of care plans is enhancing care SECAmb provides to patients.

What patients should have a care plan on IBIS?

  • All patients at risk of hospital admission, either because of their diagnosis or current condition – including patients with two or more chronic long-term conditions.
  • Patients with conditions that have a poor prognosis or a condition requiring regular intervention, support, adjustment and management.
  • Patients with memory or communication problems, that may find it difficult to provide a concise history e.g. patients with dementia.
  • Terminally ill / palliative patients with expressed wishes at the end-of-life.
  • Patients who require a high level of community support and or regular intervention.
  • Frequent Callers to the ambulance service, a particularly complex and vulnerable cohort of patients.

 

Further Information

IBIS Patient Advice Leaflet
How IBIS Works
IBIS Other Functions

If you would like further information about IBIS or you are a care team wishing to be set up on IBIS, please use the form on our contact us page.