Every ambulance trust in England is to benefit from greater access to Ordnance Survey’s most detailed digital geographic information (GI) from this month.
It follows the launch of a pilot agreement aimed at encouraging the use of computerised mapping across the NHS. The plan is to ensure health providers have the reliable information they need to improve patient care while making the most efficient possible use of their resources.
The groundbreaking agreement between the mapping agency and The Information Centre for Health and Social Care, acting on behalf of the NHS in England, was signed in November 2005. It covers more than 600 health services, including primary care trusts, strategic health authorities, NHS trusts and cancer registries. So far 330 have applied to be part of the pilot. Now 31 ambulance trusts are eligible to join.
“GI can support day-to-day decision making as well as long-term planning for a range of essential services such as emergency response, patient transport, and incident control,” says Vanessa Lawrence, Ordnance Survey’s Director General and Chief Executive. “It gives health managers the ability to use Ordnance Survey data to support their operations and policies and to meet key performance targets. It also encourages interoperability by enabling the NHS to share geographically referenced information with emergency services, government departments and local authorities.”
The pilot allows those who have yet to experience GI the chance to use it for the first time. For organisations already aware of the benefits, it offers access to a wider portfolio of products delivered to consistent standards across the country.
Bolton Primary Care Trust (PCT) is using data provided by the Pilot NHS (England) Agreement to drive forward existing processes and underpin new ones. GI enables the PCT to plan the availability of services and distribution of resources based on location and specific patient requirements. This has included pinpointing pockets of deprivation within outwardly prosperous areas, gauging the demand and take-up of health services and evaluating potential sites for resource centres based on the location of public transport links. Bolton PCT uses a GIS (geographical information system) to help complete a range of health equity audits, reviewing and restructuring services as required, matching the needs of local communities. “By plotting the impact of various policy change scenarios, managers have a clear visual tool which helps them grasp the implications of decisions in a way that a set of spreadsheets never can,” says David Holt from Bolton PCT.
The digital portfolio encompasses small-scale mapping of regional areas to more detailed coverage of local areas, including street-level, postcode, and spatial address data. Products based on new generation OS MasterMap data, specifically designed to be managed as a fully integrated corporate database, are also available.
For more information go to www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/health