This month marks the Universal Care Plan’s (UCP) second anniversary. Ahead of this milestone Tomas Ince, UCP Senior Clinical Transformation Manager, explains how the tool is going from strength to strength and reaching new heights – universal heights (22 July 2024)!!

Supporting Londoners

It is fantastic that more people that ever have a UCP. This is an opportunity to digitally share their care wishes and preferences with all those across the system that care for them. As of June 2024 over 64,000 Londoners had an active UCP, with over 16,000 being created since the beginning of the year. That is the most since the UCP’s conception and the growth over the past six months has been a joy to behold.

Back in July 2022 the Urgent Care Plan programme, as it was called back then, focused on ensuring that those in the last years and months of life were given the opportunity to express how and where they would like to be cared for. It allowed, and still does allow, around 70% of citizens with a UCP to die in their preferred place of death, 20% more than the palliative care population outside of London.

Our evolution

Since then the UCP has changed its name and broadened its use so more Londoners could benefit from its integrated approach. The UCP team have been listening to health and social care staff, as well as patients and their carers, to understand their requirements for an expanded programme.

The UCP has now integrated with the NHS login service, meaning patients can now view their UCP on the NHS app or web browser. This is important because it helps to give patients reassurance that their care plans are communicated correctly to those health and care professionals looking after them.

Supported by NHS England, we have also expanded the care plan to include sickle cell pain management plans and to date almost 5,000 of these plans have been created using the UCP. Sickle cell can be a deeply debilitating disease with patients often experiencing periods of intense pain. It is really important that everyone involved in their care and treatment can access their care plan so they can best meet the patient’s needs. 

We have also integrated with the national record locator service, allowing paramedics to view UCP’s on the way to call outs in and outside of London, meaning that views of the UCP by urgent care teams are now at their highest ever level.

Next steps

We have had some great achievements in recent months, but our digital journey is never complete. Over the coming 6 to 12 months, we will be expanding the UCP further so that it becomes even more personalised and also evolves into a broader care and support plan. In addition to urgent and end-of-life care, and supporting people with sickle cell disease, it will also support patients with other multiple long-term conditions including dementia, frailty and learning disabilities. Patient preferences and wishes will remain a key element of the UCP.

Also in the coming months citizens across London will be able to create their own UCP’s from scratch through their NHS login. That means giving Londoners more control over their care – now wouldn’t that be something worth celebrating.  

I am proud to work with so many expert, committed and talented people on such an important programme of work. As we mark our second anniversary I would like to thank everyone involved. Together we have done some amazing work that is making such a difference. I am excited about how we will take this even further over the year ahead.