This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Information Managment & Technology Strategy'.

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Contents

Executive Summary

Appendices


Executive summary

  1. This strategy for Health Informatics has been developed to support and inform the overall strategic direction of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

  2. The strategic direction is ambitious and therefore this strategy is one that declares an intent that Health Informatics should make a much greater contribution to the clinical and commercial success of the organisation and the services it provides for patients and local people.

  3. The Trust's aim is to be renowned as an organisation of innovation and excellence in health and care through the achievement of the following strategic priorities:

  1. The environment in which the Trust operates, and intends to achieve its objectives, is undergoing rapid change.

  2. The NHS has introduced recent structural reforms to create a “patient focussed” commissioner driven NHS. Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts have been re-organised to focus on delivering transformational change rapidly and effectively.

  3. In addition, there are a range of key national drivers for change that need to be taken into account, including the need to:

  1. In order to meet its strategic objectives, the Trust needs to be able to have a robust and reliable base of information on which it can draw upon to respond to, and make decisions about:

  1. These requirements have a number of implications for the Health Informatics agenda. It is clear that there needs to be a shared vision with all stakeholders. Many of the main areas of progress involve change management, or process transformation, projects underpinned by information. As such, it will be vital that stakeholders are actively engaged, and are participative, in this change.

  2. The breadth of data needed by the Trust is much greater than ever before and an increasing amount of this data will not be able to be collected by the Trust itself. There is a need for greater sophistication in the analysis of information and a strong promotion of the use of information, all of which requires that the underlying data quality is of the highest standard.

The Vision for Health Informatics

  1. The definition of Health Informatics is:

“The knowledge, skills and tools that enable information to be collected, managed, used and shared to support the delivery of healthcare and to promote health and wellbeing.”

  1. The vision of Information Systems and Analysis in support of the Trust mission is `To provide information and service intelligence to empower clinical and managerial colleagues'. Within this context empowerment means having the right information available when it is needed to work effectively and efficiently.

  2. Collecting, managing and sharing information, however, doesn't in its own right provide all the support required to underpin the strategic priorities of the Trust.

  3. In order to use this information to achieve the improvements required, it is vital that work is done to review and transform processes of care and patient pathways as part of a major change management programme.

  4. Integrated Care Pathways (ICPs) will be a critical element of the Trust addressing its strategic priorities. An ICP aims to have:

  1. Such pathways, underpinned (and made viable) by information, will provide a patient-centred, clinically driven, evidence based outcome oriented, flexible tool. This will reduce the need for paperwork yet provide better support for clinical governance. It will become accepted as standard that information is recorded at the point of care not sometime afterwards.

  2. Thus the vision for Health Informatics over the next 3 to 5 years is that knowledge, skills and tools will continue to be developed to enable information to be collected, managed, used, and shared to support the delivery of health care by the Trust.

Themes to Support the Informatics Vision

  1. The Trust has already spent time with stakeholders gaining ownership for the strategy work and developing the Trust's thinking around the key themes upon which the strategy and implementation plans will be based. A number of key themes have emerged for this three year timeframe that underpin the informatics vision, as follows:

  1. These six work plans actually combine to provide the activities required to support the Trust's strategic objectives. However, it is not immediately apparent how they will unite to underpin the development of patient pathways, and the redesign of processes of care.

  2. A key element of this Informatics Strategy is to create a project that pools resources into a designated area to demonstrate the vision of a patient pathway through the integration of the activities in these work plans.

Going Forward

  1. The vision for Informatics, and thus the strategy, will continue to evolve over time. However, the activities detailed in the five work plans will provide the basis for delivering the strategy over the next three years.

  2. As already noted, a crucial role for Health Informatics is to be the enabler of patient pathways by underpinning the transformed processes. This will start to happen during the lifetime of this plan. It is key, however, that one or two important pathways are mapped and supported by Informatics early to both kick start the work and also to act as a showcase to enable clinical staff to understand the benefits that accrue from such a project.

  3. This project will be much about communicating, and getting buy-in for, the vision for Informatics. It will also need to engage actively with clinicians, management, and the patient pathway team to demonstrate the vision as a reality and to energise staff throughout the Trust to support further progress.


  1. Introduction

    1. Purpose of this Document

      1. This document sets an agreed vision for informatics at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) for the forthcoming five years. Strategic themes are supported by detailed workplans for the next three years to 2009/10 supporting delivery of this strategy.

      2. The Informatics Strategy therefore sets out: