Patchwork is a multi-agency networking website that allows frontline staff to quickly establish virtual teams to provide joined-up services for individuals. It draws existing data from agency systems and presents it in a useful way to free up time for clients and surface patterns for early intervention. Through co-design, it was determined that relationships, simplicity, and user priorities were important. The design includes multi-agency, multi-area functionality in a government-grade secure infrastructure. Feedback from users indicates it saves time. The system has potential as a Munro Review exemplar for small, pilot design projects. Future developments could include family functionality and analytics for identifying need and changing circumstances.

1. www.patchworkhq.com
@patchworkhq

2. Patchwork
FutureGov change management
approach, specialising in the use of
digital technology to deliver local
public services differently
Design | Technology | Change
Patchwork is a multi-agency
networking website, allowing front line
staff to quickly and easily establish a
virtual team to provide joined-up
services to an individual
www.patchworkhq.com

6. Other FutureGov projects:

7. Introducing Patchwork
VIDEO
http://vimeo.com/49825473
www.patchworkhq.com

8. The Question
How can we free up people involved in
safeguarding to prioritise their time
with clients, join up services around
children and families and surface
patterns for earlier intervention
sooner?
www.patchworkhq.com

9. A new kind of enterprise IT
Ref: Prof Sue White, University of Birmingham www.patchworkhq.com

10. to Lee
Bryant,
Headshi0
networks…

11. Where we started from – September 2009
www.patchworkhq.com

12. Initial hypothesis
A light-weight web app that
draws existing data from each
agency’s system, as well as the
child and family, and presents it
in a useful way.
www.patchworkhq.com

13. Co-design

14. Human networks matter
Other
Rela3ve
Agency
GP/
health
visitor
Neighbour
Detec3ve
Sergeant
Mother
Peers
Child
Social
Worker
Youth
Worker
Teacher
www.patchworkhq.com

15. Relationships are elusive
“Most social work teams (60%) are
operating with a 20%–30% vacancy rate
and 12% turnover which means
relationships aren’t consistent”
Association of Directors of Children's Services and
Society of Local Authority Chief Executives
www.patchworkhq.com

16. Simplicity is valuable
“We used to know there was an issue by
how thick the file was”
“You should see my Desktop on my PC,
there’s files everywhere. If I don’t have
the file in front of me it doesn‘t exist”
“I don’t pine for paper files”
“They asked me how I would improve
ICS, I said just make it a big giant field.
Everyone laughed, but I was serious”
“I feel that we are trying to represent “I’d like to see my
the content of a child’s life in a notes like layers in
computer format. People are not like Photoshop”
that and it makes me upset”
www.patchworkhq.com

17. The user priorities
www.patchworkhq.com

18. The design
1
www.patchworkhq.com

20. Multi-agency, multi-area
www.patchworkhq.com

21. Feedback from Patchwork Users
“It doesn’t take any trouble to pick up the
phone (once you know who to call)”
“It saves us so much time”
“Where we see a health need, there could be a
greater social need down the road”
“It will sit quite nicely below our thresholds at
the moment”
www.patchworkhq.com

22. Government grade secure infrastructure

23. Patchwork as a Munro Exemplar
“Whilst it will always be necessary to have
systems for storing documents, recording events
and decisions and gather data, it is important that
the use of technology does not become reduced
to these important but rather static functions.
There is growing evidence of smaller scale, pilot
design projects. It would be useful to illustrate
this with an exemplar…”
The Munro Review of Child Protection Progress Report: Moving towards
a child centred system

24. Where next
Families functionality: connecting individuals
in households and supporting family
intervention programmes
Analytics: identifying need and changing
circumstances intervening early, mapping and
managing connections
Design for more and more use cases: M&CH
and a wide range of multi-agency applications
www.patchworkhq.com

25. Dominic Campbell
dom@wearefuturegov.com
@dominiccampbell
http://patchworkhq.com