To round off our 5^th anniversary month OneLondon Programme Director, Jocelyn Palmer, talks about the lessons we have learned and the next steps for the London Care Record (31 May 2023).

Our 5^th anniversary

It has been great to mark OneLondon’s 5^th anniversary this month.

In particular it has been really good to hear from so many of our amazing partners about what we have achieved together and the difference this is making.

Angela Poland from South East London ICS highlighted the positive difference the London Care Record is having supporting frontline staff provide effective care.

Universal Care Plan Programme Director Murrae Tolson talked about how the new platform is helping to ensure people’s care preferences are respected.

Amanda Millington and Samina Malik, two of our Citizen Representatives, underlined the importance we attach to involving Londoners in our work.

And it was great to hear from Branwen again with a powerful reminder about why our work matters.

What we have learned

We really have achieved so much together over the last five years joining up information to improve health and care in London and beyond.

But for me the really exciting thing is what happens next using the lessons we have learned over the last five years.

Our  lessons include:

• The importance of putting the needs of patients and Londoners first.  The Citizen’s Summit gave us a clear foundation for our work on the London Care Record. 
• Collaboration across ICSs, while it can be challenging, helps us all deliver for the communities we serve and recognises that some of our ‘NHS boundaries’ have little meaning to the public. 
• What we do is difficult – so that is why getting the right people together works and helps us tackle some of the biggest challenges we face.
• How important it is to have strong clinical leadership.
• Our work on the London Care Record is part of a wider effort across the NHS in England, and other parts of the country are doing great work too!  Something that really matters is that we learn from others and also share our work and our learning.  That’s good for the NHS and for all of us working on Shared Care Records.

Learning these lessons is why together we are well placed to face the challenges of the years ahead.

Our plans for the future

We have a wide range of plans to go further and faster over the years ahead. So here I will focus on the London Care Record.

The London Care Record has become an essential tool for so many frontline staff. We know this because they tell us!! But the figures are also very impressive – viewed around 1.3 million times a month by over 55,000 staff.  But there is still plenty of scope to improve this.

We can do this in a number of ways. Firstly we can work together to improve our London-wide data sharing across all health and care organisations in the Capital.

We can also make sure that more frontline NHS staff know about and are able to access the London Care Record, so that they have the information they need.  

We know there are other areas where the London Care Record would be beneficial. 

• This year we completed a pilot connecting the first care homes in the Capital to the London Care Record. The results were very powerful in terms of how it helped them provide more effective care for their residents. We are now looking at how we can roll this out more widely. But there are also other areas, like community pharmacies, where this can make a real difference.
• We have already joined up the London Care Record with our partners in Hertfordshire and West Essex and Milton Keynes due to the high patient flows with these neighbouring areas. There are other areas in South East England where it makes sense to do this as well – because people who live outside of London do receive care from London hospitals.
• And we know that many frontline staff like community nurses and ambulance teams need to access information on the move. So we need to develop more mobile ways to view the London Care Record.

All of this increases the richness, clinical value and accessibility of the London Care Record and helps frontline staff to provide effective care.

Thank you

Over the last five years we have made real progress that has helped deliver some real improvements in health and care.

Thanks to you all for helping make this happen.  It’s been a great collaborative effort and many people have worked hard to make the London Care Record what it is today!

I am really excited to continue this journey with you over the years ahead.