NHS South, Central and West (SCW) will take responsibility for the Devon, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly (DCIOS), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) and Somerset Child Health Information Service (CHIS) from April 2023 after winning the tender for a five-year contract from NHS England South West. As the incumbents of BaNES, Gloucestershire, Swindon, and Wiltshire this means there will be a single standardised service of CHIS across almost the entire South West.
SCW CHIS will ensure that all children aged 0-19 years across Devon, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly (DCIOS), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) and Somerset continue to have an accurate immunisation and screening record to support health care professionals in their delivery of clinical interventions, without interruption to service provision.
CHIS provides an essential service for limiting the spread of communicable diseases by providing complete and accurate patient data to healthcare professionals on the front line, supporting them to promote the value of immunisations. The SCW team will perform the critical role of ensuring that children receive appointment invitations and reminders, in the same way as they do now, at the correct age for NHS immunisation and national health screening programmes. Health and care professionals will have access to the information they need to help keep children healthy and safe from harm, in a format everyone can understand through an interoperable solution.
The SCW CHIS is a digital service that supports the effective delivery of the Healthy Child Programme 0-19 years, enabling an increase in the uptake in health screenings and vaccinations, and reducing the risk of harm, ill-health and potential fatalities that can occur when these vital clinical interventions are not taken up. SCW will use its digital expertise to support gains in both clinical quality and operational efficiency based on our proven CHIS model across the South West region.
Across health, social care and education there is a determined focus on improving outcomes for children’s health and wellbeing with a strong emphasis on early interventions, preventive measures, addressing health inequalities and more coordinated approaches to health and wellbeing.
Access to information and effective information services have a key role to play in supporting and improving outcomes for children’s health and wellbeing as well as in the protection and safeguarding of children.
The NHS England and the National Information Board’s Healthy Children Transforming Child Health Information, published in 2016, aims to deliver a fully digital and interoperable service to achieve two key objectives:
- Knowing where every child (0-19) is and how healthy they are; and
- Providing appropriate access to information for all involved in the care of children.
Robust, and fit-for-purpose CHIS are considered the cornerstone to achieving these objectives. SCW’s philosophy of care and passion for, “Knowing where every child is and their immunisation and screening status” drives our service delivery model and reflects our determination to ensure that no child is missed.
Sue Trinder, Director of CHIS comments: “This is very exciting news. I am immensely proud of the SCW CHIS team who work very hard to deliver a well-valued service. We are delighted to be able to deliver CHIS across the South West. Our focus now is to ensure a quick and seamless transfer of service and to drive improvements which impact on the care and welfare of the children in the area”.
More information on our Child Health Information Service (CHIS)
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