Leeds Health and Care Partnership (LHCP) has drastically reduced the time it takes to arrange home care for its citizens and now provides same day discharges from hospitals. It has also eliminated invoicing processes by introducing a new commissioning solution from Access Health, Support and Care.
The manual processes that LHCP previously used to review the high volume of requests for services and match them to suitable care providers have been replaced by the Access Adam Care Commissioning solution. The removal of the paperwork required by staff to process and manage referrals has reduced the time it takes to commission services by 35%. It has also removed the risk of human error from processing excessive manual tasks and enabled same-day discharges from hospitals.
The Partnership’s All Age Continuing Care Service, which manages the commissioning of care services, now has full oversight of the needs of individuals and the different providers ensuring citizens receive tailored care from the outset.
Patients also have the ability to track the status of their referral by using a patient portal rather than submitting queries to CHC, giving them more visibility into their care and empowering them to take more control over their pathway.
Commenting on the partnership, Mutale Bwalya, Senior Operational Lead at West Yorkshire ICB, said: “The key advantage of the system has been how the system’s adaptability ensures we can efficiently manage and analyse critical health data, significantly enhancing our operational efficiency and data-driven decision-making. By streamlining our processes, eliminating paperwork, and introducing the patient portal, we’ve not only improved efficiency but also enhanced patient engagement.”
Administrative tasks that were managed by LHCP, such as managing service agreements with providers and checking and approving invoices for care provided, have also been digitised using the Adam solution. Removing the manual processes to manage these tasks has drastically reduced the Partnership’s weekly invoicing queries from providers and cut payment processing from 10,000 invoices per year to just 52 – one per week.
Staff also have access to an internal dashboard that tracks the performance of care providers against tailored, pre-set requirements, such as service level agreements, to help streamline the way staff monitor organisations and make commissioning decisions.
Steve Sawyer, Managing Director, Access HSC, said: “We’re delighted that LHCP has seen huge improvements to its homecare commissioning. We have worked closely with Leeds to digitise their services, reducing the administrative burden on their colleagues and ultimately leading to better outcomes for those across the region.”
