Using technology and collaborative working for a positive patient experience and to improve safety

Clinicians who treat patients with wounds need access to the resources that will enable them to deliver the best and most appropriate treatments. A partnership working initiative between Greenwich CCG Medicines management (commissioner), Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (provider) and ConvaTec (commercial partner) was set up to provide wound-care dressings and products to patients via the community services. It lead to improved access, greater patient benefits, a reduction in dressings waste, and an increase in clinical confidence to make cost-effective, evidence-based prescribing decisions. This inspired the commissioners to collaborate with BlueBay (technology partner) to 'trailblaze' the development and introduction of an electronic wound care template for practice nurses and doctors in primary care to use in conjunction with VISION and EMIS, clinical software systems used in GP practices. This interoperability of clinical systems to improve wound care is, to date, the only one of its kind in the UK.