RIVIAM Wellbeing supports the Covid-19 response in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES)

Just as lockdown started, we were asked by BaNES Council and Virgin Care to set up the technology infrastructure and telephony for a Compassionate Community Hub. Just 4 days later, working with our telephony partner Gradwell Communications, we had the hub up and running receiving calls from people in need.

Then by the end of April, the hub - managed by the council, Virgin Care and 3SG (representing local third sector organisations) - started using RIVIAM’s new social prescribing platform, RIVIAM Wellbeing. Over the last 3 months, approximately 1500 cases and 7000 calls for food parcels, medicines, advice and wellbeing have been managed by the hub using RIVIAM. The Wellbeing service provides information firewalls so organisations from health, social care and the third sector can work together across a single patient record. Partner organisations still use their own IT systems but RIVIAM acts as a secure digital bridge for co-ordinating care. This replaces reliance on phone, email and spreadsheets, reducing duplication and giving the third sector the digital capabilities to work seamlessly with each other and health and social care.

Claire Thorogood, Head of Contracting & Performance, BaNES Council, says about RIVIAM: “Providing a system whereby partners can share information securely and work more collaboratively has been and will continue to be crucial to the success of the Hub. This has transformed how we have worked in partnership."

Collaborating with NHSX

Earlier this year, RIVIAM, NHSX and Surrey and Borders NHS Trust (SABP) collaborated on an alpha stage project for SABP’s Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CAMHS). RIVIAM will be using the findings in NHSX’s CYP Discovery and Alpha reports to inform the development of SABP’s Secure Portal powered by RIVIAM.

This autumn the existing RIVIAM portal for receiving referrals for the Children’s Family Health Service and CAMHS will be redesigned using our latest software to provide a new interactive experience for GPs, other professionals and self-referrers so they can more easily engage with SABP, submit and track their referrals.

Email Processing service brings efficiencies to Single Points of Access (SPoA)

Thousands of hours a year of clinical and administrative time could be saved if the processing of email referrals is automated. RIVIAM’s Email Processing Service reads emails directly from NHS accounts and automatically processes the email and its attachments into workflow queues. There is no longer a need for busy staff at SPoAs to read and manage every referral and they flow seamlessly to the right clinician.

Virgin Care is using this service at the new Care Co-ordination Centre in BaNES to receive and process email referrals for Adult Community Services, bringing many efficiencies.

New funding from Innovate UK

In June, we were awarded funding by Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, to extend RIVIAM’s current Wellbeing social prescribing service. We responded to Innovate UK’s call for applications for ‘Business-led innovation in response to global disruption’ and are delighted to be one of the lucky 10% who received support.

With the funding, we will enable health, social care and third sector organisations using RIVIAM to set and share tasks and instant message each other about cases and patients – all securely with strict security measures and consent. To find out more, get in touch with Claire.

Read news of our success in the Health Technology Newspaper and Health Technology Net.

New immunisations mobile app for delivering clinics

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Virgin Care will start using our Immunisations eConsent mobile app this autumn for delivering vaccination clinics. The app saves nurses time by providing immediate access to the list of children for a clinic and all their consents and triage history. It works online and offline ensuring that clinics can be undertaken regardless of internet connection. The outcomes of immunisations are digitally recorded via the app in real-time. Where RIVIAM is connected to the clinical system, it will automatically make an update.

The app is a fantastic addition to our Immunisations eConsent service. With RIVIAM our customers can digitise the entire immunisations process from beginning to end.

From 1st January to 31st July this year, RIVIAM has processed over 100,000 eConsents for children’s vaccinations across Somerset, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Devon.