Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council

In line with government’s plan for integrated health and social care services by 2020, the North East Association of Directors of Adult Social Care (ADASS), is working to support delivery of a Great North Care Record (GNCR); an innovative partnership programme that will serve 3.6 million people across the North East and Cumbria by sharing health and social care information securely and effectively.

At present, social care in North East is not connected to the GNCR.  Not being connected means we are not able to reap the rewards available for our partners, the public, patients and care receivers.  The main issue is a lack of sufficient resource to enable us to explore / develop the interface between our Adult Social Care case management systems and the GNCR.

Our discovery phase would aim to:

• Explore the existing ICT and information sharing barriers between health and social care information;
• Develop a benefits map and effective project plan;
• Pilot within 1 authority an integration as part of a collaborative regional effort

Longer-term, the collaborative model of health and social care information sharing would act a blueprint for other local authorities in the North East and Cumbria to follow.