If you want to find out more about any of our digital social care projects  email: nclicb.digitaladultsocialcare@nhs.net

Digital transformation can enhance the delivery of person-centred care while improving secure communications and reducing time spent on administrative tasks. Ranging from compliance and security tools (the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT), and NHSmail), to Digital Social Care Records (DSCRs), to care delivery and prevention tools (remote monitoring and falls prevention technologies), there are digital solutions designed to meet the complex and diverse needs of social care settings. Digital transformation can help improve the way you provide care or bring in new efficiencies whilst meeting regulatory standards.  

Support is available to help your care setting identify digital opportunities, implement new technologies, and respond to Care Quality Commission requirements. The North Central London Integrated Care Board (ICB) is assisting care providers with: 

• Completing the DSPT 

• Transitioning to NHSmail 

• Implementation DSCRs and remote monitoring tools 

With digital innovation, we can secure care and proprietary information, support individuals’ independence, enhance information sharing between health and social care, promote transparency and accountability, and ultimately improve the quality of care provided across North London. 

Digital Care Hub (previously Digital Social Care) provides advice and support to the adult social care sector on technology, data protection and cyber security. They provide free information, guidance and support to enable adult social care providers to make the most of digital technology – and to do it safely. To find out more, and to contact the team directly visit the Digital Care Hub website.  

If you want to find out more about the digital projects in North Central London, please email nclicb.digitaladultsocialcare@nhs.net 

> Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) 

> Digital Social Care Records (DSCR) 

> NHSmail 

> Remote Monitoring 

> Proxy Access 

> Acoustic Monitoring 

Data Security and Protection Toolkit

The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) is an annual online self-assessment for health and care organisations to measure data security performance. It outlines what steps you need to take to keep people’s information safe and to protect your business from the risk of a data breach or cyberattack, while also providing organisations a means of reporting security incidents and data breaches. It covers both paper and digital care records.

The DSPT covers both paper and digital records. Care providers should use the DSPT as a checklist to demonstrate they are taking the necessary steps to improve their data and cyber security infrastructure. The DSPT should be updated once a year otherwise it is invalid and cannot be used as evidence in regulatory inspections.

Benefits of DSPT Central and local government bodies, commissioners, the Care Quality Commission, and the National Data Guardian recognise the DSPT as the official tool to evaluate your compliance with legal requirements, data security standards and IT good practice.

It has been developed by the NHS and updated annually in consultation with care providers to ensure it is social-care friendly and relevant to the data management and security needs of the sector.

By using the toolkit on an annual basis and reaching a Standards Met on your assessment you will be able to:

• Reassure people who use services, their families, and your staff that you are managing their information safely and securely.
• Answer the Care Quality Commission’s Key Line of Enquiry questions about how you manage data securely (see KLOE W.2.8)
• Demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements, including Data Protection Legislation and the Data Security Standards
• Access key services such as NHSmail and shared care records
• Implement digital social care technologies such as DSCR

Who needs to complete the DSPT

There is a legal requirement to complete the DSPT every year if you have services funded by the NHS, such as continuing healthcare.

All adult social care services in England, including residential and nursing homes, supported living, homecare, extra care, share lives, and day services are strongly recommended to complete the DSPT. The DSPT is increasingly becoming what regulators and commissioners are looking for when it comes to data and cyber security.

“CQC will increasingly expect a good provider to comply with the Data Security & Protection Toolkit or equivalent, as a minimum. This also applies where you use a combination of digital and paper record systems.” – Mark Sutton, Chief Digital Officer, CQC

The DSPT is a subtopic and best practice measure of the Governance quality statement within ‘well-led’ of the new Single Assessment Framework:

Governance, Management and Sustainability

We have clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. We use these to manage and deliver good, quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. We act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and share this securely with others when appropriate.

You don’t need to register for or have completed the DSPT to have video appointments with NHS services, but it is strongly recommended.

Support and Guidance for the DSPT

There is a lot of support available for care providers when completing the DSPT. Local support is available to assist your care setting with understanding the requirements to complete the DSPT and conducting the assessment. For more information or to request this support, please contact nclicb.digitaladultsocialcare@nhs.net. Care providers should also make use of the free resources available on website such as Digital Care Hub. There are now cyber-security modules available for care workers to complete which all organisations can access for free.

Care providers can also contact Better Security Better Care to learn more about the support available. Better Security, Better Care is a national and local support programme to help adult social care providers to store and share information safely. It covers paper and digital records and focuses on helping care providers to complete the Data Security and Protection Toolkit – the annual, online self-assessment.

Better Security Better Care includes a range of useful resources to help your setting use the toolkit, as well as practical support from a network of local support partners across England, national support for large care providers, and a dedicated helpline.

Access the following further resources:

• National support and resources
• Local support
• Templates and policies for the DSPT
• Including DSPT requirements in Adult Social Care contracts
• Care providers’ and sector leaders’ views on the Data Security and Protection Toolkit

If you have questions on completing DSPT you can also call the Digital Care Hub helpline at 0808 196 4848 (9am and 5pm Monday to Friday) or email help@digitalcarehub.co.uk

Digital Social Care Records

Digital Social Care Records (DSCR) transform the way care information is recorded and shared within social care settings by replacing traditional paper records to enable the real-time, person-centred digital recording of care information and services received by an individual.

NHSE has developed an assured marketplace of DSCR suppliers that offer systems with a core set of capabilities to meet the diverse needs of social care providers across the sector. The Assured Supplier List currently includes 20 suppliers whose DSCR solutions offer the core capabilities social care providers need from a DSCR (Download a list of the core capabilities).

To learn more about the NCL DSCR project, you can also view our DSCR Informational Leaflet or our DSCR One-Pager to find further information about DSCR solutions and what care providers will need to do to participate in the project.

Benefits of DSCR

DSCR is designed to foster data sharing, ensuring that the right people have access to the information they need to deliver care effectively. By implementing DSCR, care providers can not only enhance the care and services they provide but will also play a vital role in joining up social care with the NHS. The adoption of real time information recording and sharing through DSCR helps providers to be more aware of when people’s needs change so they can respond to them more quickly, improving the safety and quality of care while also reducing the time spent on administrative duties. Further benefits include:

• Availability of all key care information for residents, accessible at the point of care
• Alignment with CQC best practices and emerging digitisation standards in the single assessment framework
• Easier and more efficient processes for providing information to commissioners and regulators
• Minimisation of risks such as medication errors, dehydration, or missing visits
• Support for other important health and care functions such as service management, planning, and research
• For more details on the benefits of DSCR; you can read the full details provided by the CQC. Just follow this: The benefits of a good digital records system - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)

The Video created by the CQC also covers the importance and benefits of DSCR

Digital Social Care Records have also been granted access to GP Connect once they are compliant with GP Connect allows you to:

• view a care user’s care record and associated documents
• update a care user's care record and associated documents
• manage a care user's appointments

Accessing GP Connect allows you to provide more personalised care and access important information on the spot, without needing to call the local GP. There are currently five assured suppliers who have access to GP Connect: everyLIFE, Nourish, Person Centered Software, Care Beans and Care Vision. Other assured suppliers are in the process of attaining compliance. Once compliant, it will appear list on the list of assured solutions within the relevant supplier’s features.

Support to Implement DSCR

When purchasing a DSCR from the Assured Supplier List, care providers are eligible to receive support funding and implementing their chosen solution, including:

• Match funding to cover licensing and implementation costs, as well as up to one year of running costs.
• Guidance through the process to make the transition as seamless as possible
• Hands-on support and bespoke training to integrate DSCR
• Integrated support as needed to meet DSPT standards (required for implementing DSCR), accessing NHS mail, and implementing other care technologies such as remote monitoring and acoustic monitoring

To get in touch about DSCR funding and support, please email us at nclicb.digitaladultsocialcare@nhs.net

NHSmail

NHSmail is a free and secure email system which is available to all Care Quality Commission registered providers in England who have achieved Standards Met on the Data Security and Protection Toolkit. As the national service for sharing patient identifiable and sensitive information and the national secure collaboration platform for health and social care, accessing NHSmail can transform the way your setting communicates, both within your organisation and outside it.

Benefits of NHSmail

NHSmail is a centrally funded, managed and secure email service designed to allow confidential information about people we care for to be shared safely. It does everything you would expect from a modern business email system, while also having benefits specific to the health and social care sector:

• Allows easier and faster communications with the GP
• Simplifies the processes for ordering tests
• Enhances the prescription ordering process
• Provides a reliable discharge summary process
• Reduces time spent on administrative tasks
• Increases collaboration over hospital admissions and appointments
• Allows access to the NHS directory

Access to NHSmail

Local support is available to assist your care setting with accessing NHSmail. For more information or to request this support, please contact nclicb.digitaladultsocialcare@nhs.net.

There are three main routes to accessing NHSmail:

1. Self-Management (Top Down)

• Suitable for large organisations, i.e. those that have their own IT function, and have the expertise and technological proficiency to carry out the local administrator role
• Organisations manage the accounts themselves – starters, leavers, password resets etc.
• Organisations can integrate NHSmail with their own IT and HR procedures
• The default account allowance is up to 10 user accounts and 1 shared mailbox per site
• Register using the self-management application form. This is completed at HQ level, sites are later added as ‘organisation units’

2. National Administration Service (NAS) Portal (Decentralised)

• The main route for small providers, administrative support is provided centrally
• Register via the online self-service portal – usually completed by a care site.
• Nationally administrated, no administrators are required within the social care organisation.
• Dedicated admin support managed via Accenture helpdesk – careadmin@nhs.net
• Generally, the shared mailbox owner for each site manages joiners and leavers. Other responsibilities are detailed in the guide
• Bulk upload facility is available, however there could be a long lead time if large numbers of accounts are required
• May be complicated if the organisation structure is not reflected correctly in the ODS code HQ/site hierarchy (as often seems to be the case)
• The default account allowance is up to 10 named user accounts and 1 shared mailbox per site
• Naming convention for shared mailbox – postcodetown.carehomenameODScode@nhs.net (this is being revisited to look at other simpler naming solutions).
• CQC Registered Services only

3. Third Party route (For Non CQC Registered Services)

• Separate Application Route – Third Party Process and application form
• Must be providing or supporting publicly funded health and social care.
• The NHSmail team will evaluate eligibility
• Default is up to 50 accounts per organisation

The most effective way to ensure that you have ongoing access to NHSmail is to reach and maintain at least Approaching Standards on your annual DSPT self-assessment.

If you have questions on NHSMail access you can call the Digital Care Hub helpline at 0808 196 4848 (9am and 5pm Monday to Friday) or email help@digitalcarehub.co.uk