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CASE STUDY
NHS Central Eastern
Commissioning
Support Unit
DCSL helps NHS Central Eastern
Commissioning Support Unit create
greater openness with anonymous
patient feedback facility
NHS Central Eastern Commissioning Support Unit is one of 19
regional NHS service centres across England. Its role is to provide
value-added support to local clinical commissioning groups
(CCGs) as they procure healthcare services for patients. NHS
Central Eastern CSU covers Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire
and Luton and serves 17 CCG clients and other secondary care
providers. It hopes to attract additional CCGs as the CSU develops.
To do this, it needs to keep introducing innovative new forms
of support - going the extra mile to make commissioning more
effective and to ensure a better experience for patients.
DELIVERING A MORE OPEN NHS
In February 2013, The Francis Report was published following a
formal inquiry into high-profile failings at Mid-Staffordshire NHS
Foundation Trust. The report detailed a series of recommendations
to improve standards of care across the National Health Service.
These included measures to ensure the patient is always put first,
and to create a new culture of openness across the NHS.
In response to the report, NHS Central Eastern CSU resolved to
find a way to allow patients and GPs to comment and complain
– easily and anonymously – about their experience of healthcare
services, so that targeted improvements could be made.
“We wanted to find a way that people could raise a concern
anonymously – feedback that would be fed to a CCG’s quality
directorate, for example,” explains Mark Peedle, the CSU’s Head of
Operational IT. “This would allow trends to be identified - so that,
if there was a flurry of complaints about rejected referrals to a
hospital, action could be taken.”
Although NHS Organisations have Patient Advice and Liaison
Services, there isn’t a mechanism to provide incidental,
anonymous feedback. “The only way for someone to comment
until now has been to phone or send an email, giving details as
well as their contact information, a process that will have put a lot
of people off making complaints,” Mark notes.
INNOVATION THROUGH PARTNERSHIP
NHS Central Eastern CSU’s vision was to create a very simple
application that Trusts could embed within their own web sites
or intranets, or offer as an easily downloadable PC or mobile app.
This would allow patients - or GPs or other service providers to log comments or complaints quickly and easily, but without
revealing their identity. “The idea was to make it as easy as using
Twitter,” Mark continues. “But the anonymity was critical.”
The CSU’s IT department took its requirements to the market. “We
were looking for a company that was interested in partnering with
us to develop the software,” Mark explains. “The idea was that we
would develop something simple that could be taken up widely
across the health service, allowing us to sell on the application.
This would allow us to keep the initial costs down, and give both
us and the developer an income from new uses of the software.”
DCSL Software, one of the companies being considered, embraced
the partnership idea. “They believed in what we were doing and
gave us a very reasonable price to develop the application,” Mark
says.

2. If I had to describe the company in a word it would be
professional. The delivery was fantastically efficient.
Mark Peedle
Head of Operational IT
RAPID DEVELOPMENT
PATIENT POWER
DCSL, a bespoke software development company, specialises
in creating high-quality Microsoft .NET and SQL Server web
applications and back-office business database applications.
Technical Director Nick Thompson took on board the
requirement to protect individuals’ anonymity, but suggested
that this could be done in such a way that would also allow for
a reply.
Next, NHS Central Eastern CSU would like to see Trusts extend
the facility to patients. “Anyone could deploy the solution, as
long as it is connected up to someone who can receive and
respond to the feedback.” Mr Peedle notes. iNotify does not use
the N3 NHS network, running instead over the Internet more
widely. “This means it can be deployed and used anywhere,” he
explains.
Nick explains: “Rather than simply have a one-way message,
we proposed that we could still provide complete anonymity
while allowing the person providing the feedback to receive
a response - even if this is just an acknowledgement that their
comment has been received. The CSU liked this idea, so we
created a way for individuals to enter their mobile number - but
without anyone being able to see this number or connect it to
an individual.”
It is by selling on the solution that NHS Central Eastern CSU will
recoup some of its investment. DCSL, which will retain ownership
of the application for the first year, will get a proportion of the
licensing fee associated with any resale agreements. These
additional earnings will supplement the very modest initial
development fee. “This was a very affordable application,” Mark
notes. “DCSL made us a great offer. We spent public money to
get this application developed so it was important we got value
for money.”
Working in close collaboration with the CSU, DCSL developed
the agreed application – iNotify - within just three months. “This
was excellent – beyond my expectations,” Mark comments. DCSL
wrote the application, which is based on SQL Server technology
at the back end, using Microsoft .NET, a rapid development
environment.
As to the benefits of iNotify, these will be to the patient first and
foremost, he says. “By making it easier for patients to provide
comments and feedback, we will be able to better target our
resources and improve services promptly and in line with what
patients deem to be most critical.”
GIVING GPS A VOICE
SUPPLIER RELATIONS
The first user of the solution is a local CCG. Its version of the
tool is installed on GPs’ PCs so that general practitioners can
anonymously report issues related to booking hospital clinics.
In this case the application self-installs automatically from the
web once selected. Any updates to the software will also happen
automatically. The program is completely secure, being run on
servers hosted in DCSL’s data centre. Anonymous messages sent
between the GP and the quality directorate are encrypted, and
no one can see the content other than 1-2 designated people in
this team – but even they cannot see where the feedback has
come from.
On his experiences of working with DCSL, Mark describes the
partnership as a ‘great fit’. “If I had to describe the company in
a word it would be professional,” he concludes. “The delivery
was fantastically efficient. Most importantly, Nick Thompson
immediately bought into what we were trying to achieve and
was very enthusiastic about the project, which was critical to
its success.”
To learn more, please get in touch
by phone, email or via our website at
www.dcslsoftware.com
DCSL Software Limited
Alpha House, 9-11 Alexandra Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 6BU, United Kingdom
EMAIL: contact@dcslsoftware.com
TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 1252 531 421
WEBSITE: www.dcslsoftware.com