Part of Draft Implementing Child Health Interoperability step by step guide
Local readiness
This phase includes the activities and tasks to be completed to get your organisation ready for implementing NEMs Interoperability. When you have a plan in place to complete these tasks, you should engage with your system supplier to propose an implementation date. You should also engage with the NHSX Implementation team who will be able to confirm where you sit within their pipeline of organization’s going live with NEMS.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
You should carry out User Acceptance Testing (UAT) based on your requirements. This may be a light touch familiarisation exercise with the NEMS product using your system suppliers’ screens or something more detailed where you send end to end test messages. You should engage with your supplier to agree what the best approach is for you.
This should be based on the technical specification and/or release notes provided to you by your supplier on the NEMS solution they are providing for you. You should allow 1-3 weeks for this depending on the depth of testing you wish to do.
On-boarding checklist
The on-boarding checklist should be submitted to [email protected] at least 10 working days before you wish to go live with NEMS.
The checklist can start to be completed straight away but cannot be finalised until you are ready to implement NEMs and have completed some form of UAT or familiarisation.
The on-boarding checklist is split into two sections: Supplier actions and end user organisation actions. We have provided a summary which shows who needs to provide what information.
| Criteria | Owner |
|---|---|
| Supplier NEMS product clinical safety case to be shared with end user organisation or customer and statement provided | Supplier |
| NEMS Technical specification/release notes/user guidance to be shared with end user organisation/customer and statement provided | Supplier |
| Supplier incident management process to be shared with end user organisation/customer and statement provided | Supplier |
| End User Organisation AUP to be shared with end user organisation/customer and statement provided | Supplier |
| Statement from supplier when their Supplier Conformance Assessment List (SCAL) was assured by NHS Digital | Supplier |
| Liaison between Supplier and end user organisation or customer over the Generic Subscription rules to be applied and statement provided | Supplier |
| Statement the end user organisation has read and understood the supplier’s clinical safety case and reflected any implications locally | End user organisation |
| Statement the user Acceptance Testing, familiarisation or end user guidance has been read and understood and the end user organisation accepts NEMS | End user organisation |
| Statement confirming the end user organisation will apply the supplier’s incident management process | End user organisation |
| Statement confirming the end user organisation has read and understood the End user Organisation AUP (EUO AUP) | End user organisation |
| The Data Sharing Arrangement (DSA) has been signed | End user organisation |
| A screenshot of the latest Data Security Protection Toolkit (DSPT) submission states ‘standards met’ as a minimum or a work-off plan is declared | End user organisation |
| Statement confirming the NHS Digital’s NEMS Clinical Hazard log has been read and understood | End user organisation |
| Statement confirming the Generic Subscription rules have been reviewed with their supplier and are correct | End user organisation |
Assuming all content within the checklist meets the criteria required, this should enable you to proceed with your implementation go-live data. This table shows the approval to proceed timeline.
| Date | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Monday week 1 | Submit on-boarding checklist and IWG form to [email protected] | Provider organisation |
| Tuesday week 1 to Wednesday week 2 | Assess on-boarding checklist and IWG form | NHS Digital |
| Thursday week 2 | Approval given | NHS Digital |
| Week 3 | Go-live (date agreed between all parties) | Supplier enables subscriptions for provider to go-live |
NRL NEMS stakeholder and end user rollout form
In addition to the on-boarding checklist, the end user organisation should work with their supplier to complete the NEMs NRL stakeholder rollout request form which can be requested from [email protected]. This will determine which generic subscriptions should be created as well as confirm the scope for the implementation. Once complete, both forms should be submitted to [email protected].
Training
From the UAT activities you should be able to uplift your business process documentation and/or Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This will support staff during the first few days of implementation when they are getting used to the new data flows and ways of processing information.
You should prepare them for increased workloads during the first few weeks whilst the new ways of working are adopted. You may also see significant increases in the number of demographic messages received as the automated messages catch-up on the previously unknown levels of change.
You may wish to run webinars for staff to walk them through the changes or provide them with step-by-step instructions. Don’t forget to think about shift patterns and annual leave to ensure all staff are captured when planning webinars or change process training sessions.
You may also wish to adopt a ‘train the trainer’ approach where you have super-users who filter the information down.
Organisations that have already implemented child health interoperability have suggested allowing approximately 2.5 hours of training.
Known Impacts of using NEMs
There are several known impacts you should be aware of when you you are getting used to using NEMS which will need to be included into your guidance materials.
CHIS
Beware of spikes in the message volumes regarding change of GP when a GP practice closes or merges with another one. Whilst these are genuine messages, the sudden spike may impact processing times in CHIS
There is a Spine issue that means when a change of address message is initiated it can sometimes be a ‘fake’ change due to the address being entered into different fields and appearing as if it is a change when it isn’t. For example, a house number being added to the 1st line of address rather than the house number field initiates a NEMS PDS message, but the address hasn’t changed, it has just been entered into a system in a different format.
Project
Failsafe guidance advice needs to be given to staff not to switch-off notifications to avoid missing key reminders and notifications. Some clinicians may get ‘notification fatigue’ but it’s important to understand the impact of turning these notifications off. Guidance needs to provide advice on what is ok to turn off and what isn’t based on clinical safety assessment.
Last edited: 30 June 2021 5:38 pm