Interoperability and the NHS

We Should Talk

Martin Whittaker, Touchstone Consultancy Ltd

martin@touchstone.uk.com

• IT, Telecoms, Electronics industries in UK

• Healthcare Group

• 260 suppliers to health and social care sector

• Works closely with Department of Health (DH)

Interoperability is Hard

Interoperability is Good

Healthcare Interoperability is

Really Hard

Healthcare Interoperability is

Really Good

The story so far…• Interoperability is not new

• National Programme failed to deliver the Care Record Service

• “Connect All” rather than “Replace All”

• Back to basics:

• Use interoperability that works

• Use proven standards rather than clever ones

• …hence the CFH Interoperability Toolkit (ITK)

ITK Principles

• Start with simple, proven interoperability

• Biggest gains are with local data

• (almost) Any interoperability is better than none

ITK Levels

• Level 1 – Plumbing

• Level 2 – Send what ya got: Word, pdf…

• Level 3 – Structure the envelope –HL7/IHE “Green CDA”

• Level 4 – Structure everything

The Verdict

Intellect welcomes ITK, but…

Areas for Improvement

• Strategy

• Engagement

• Education

• Openness

• Compliance

The CFH ITK Accreditation

Catalogue

(yes, all of it)

ITK and Suppliers

Seen it all b

efore It will be too expensive...

Our customer is the Trust not CFH Unpro

ven

We make money from bespoke

interfaces

We’ve got a

better o

neLack of ownership

Strategy

• How safe a bet is ITK?

• Is ITK part of the NHS Information and Technology Strategies?

• Timescales

Education• The Trust is the customer

• It’s not just an IT project

• What are the business needs?

• Medical Director: improved patient care/safety?

• Finance Director: financial savings?

• Etc

• Who can educate?

Openness

• Everything must be public

• ITK User Forum

• Forget licence fees!

• Shared ownership fosters quick uptake

• Suppliers will reciprocate

Compliance• Can be:

• Hard

• Difficult to pin down

• Expensive

• Negative

• Barrier to implementation

Compliance• Should add value

• eg IHE Connectathon

• Suppliers in same room

• Proving interoperability

• Certificate states what works

Investment• Sort out:

• Strategy

• Engagement

• Education

• Openness

• Compliance

• …and suppliers will invest

Interoperability and the NHSAvailable from

www.intellectuk.org/healthcare

We Should Talk

Martin Whittaker, Touchstone Consultancy Ltd

martin@touchstone.uk.com01256 765902