The Trust introduced a telehealth programme to manage patients living with long-term conditions such as COPD, chronic heart failure (CHF) and diabetes. These accounted for 17% of emergency admission episodes in 2011-12, costing a total of £3.4m, with COPD noted as the most costly.
Read more: GB: Southern Health secures funding for telehealth programme
Councils from across the country have been competing in the Transformation Challenge Awards, which grants government funding to councils who can demonstrate the ability to remain “at the cutting edge of service transformation” said local government minister, Brandon Lewis.
By integrating local health and care services, sharing finance and human resource functions and creating partnerships for better asset management, the money will help councils “overhaul the way they do business” says Lewis.
Read more: UK government grants 18 local authorities £7m to put towards shared services
Lewis said the money would help councils ‘overhaul the way they do business’ by integrating local health and care services, sharing finance and human resource functions and creating partnerships for better asset management.
The 18 winning bids include a £750,000 award to implement shared services between Surrey and East Sussex county councils and their respective fire authorities.
Read more: GB: DCLG hands out £7m to shared service projects
In May, the UK public sector was given a mandate meant to profoundly shape the way all information and communications technology (ICT) is sourced by government, the NHS, education and indeed all corners of the sector.
The problem: while the move was meant to deal with some of the widely-acknowledged challenges that public sector bodies are facing around IT procurement and value for money, IT buyers within those organisations also have to think through all of the implications.
Read more: GB: 'Cloud First' policy must manage shadow IT security risks
Some £6.9 million in funding has been made available for local authorities that will radically overhaul how they do business through shared services.
Local government minister Brandon Lewis said that the money has been shared between 18 councils that will:
- Accelerate integration of local health care services
- Create shared finance and HR for emergency services
- Create a shared asset management company partnership
- Use service data to drive efficiency and improve delivery
Read more: GB: Shared services funding made available for 18 ‘cutting edge’ councils