Health and social care teams in Lancashire have taken a ground-breaking step in the integration of services with the go-live of a new hospital alert system to help prevent child abuse. 

Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust have become the first local authority and NHS sites in the county to take the Child Protection – Information Sharing (CP-IS) project live. Initiated by NHS England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), the CP-IS project was borne out of a desire to encourage health and social care partners to share information, in a secure setting, for the protection of children.

System C’s subsidiary Liquidlogic, a leading provider of social care IT solutions, worked with Lancashire County Council and the HSCIC to build the link between its case management system and the Trust’s information systems.  

CP-IS shares non-clinical information about those children who are subject to a Child Protection Plan; Looked after Children; and any pregnant woman whose unborn child has a pre-birth protection plan.

Healthcare workers will be able to see whether the child has frequently attended emergency departments or urgent care centres over a period of time, which could be an indication of neglect or abuse. The information sharing solution will deliver a higher level of protection to children who have frequently visited multiple urgent care settings.

Talking about the go-live Andrew Sofield, Business Transformation Lead at Lancashire County Council comments: “We have worked tirelessly with both the team at Liquidlogic and the HSCIC on making the CP-IS project a reality for Lancashire Council and we’re very proud to announce our go live. The CP-IS project will enable intelligent information sharing with health partners, to highlight when looked after children or those with a child protection plan present in an unscheduled health setting. Child protection has always been at the centre of our work in Lancashire and our determination to go live with CP-IS is testament to that.”

A number of primary changer sites are taking part in the project; however Lancashire County Council is the first to take the system live with Liquidlogic.

Speaking about the achievement, David Grigsby, Managing Director of Liquidlogic says: “Lancashire’s go live with Child Protection – Information Sharing is a key milestone for health and social care integration projects. Often projects like this are relegated to the ‘too difficult pile’, however Lancashire County Council has proved their tenacity and ensured the project took off with admirable efficiency. Lancashire has paved the way for other Local Authorities with CP-IS.”

Markus Bolton, joint CEO of System C, comments: “Integrating health and social care is a key national issue and becoming more important in every project we deliver. We are delighted to have played a leading part in this important initiative”.