Children's Services
Child Health Information System (West Midlands)
The Child Health department provides administrative and information services to universal nursing services and GP Practices throughout the city.
About our service
Working in partnership with NHS England, colleagues within the children and families division of BCHC, other NHS organisations and the local authority, the child health department provides administrative and information services to universal nursing services and GP Practices throughout the city. We currently utilise the Careplus Child Health System to create and maintain a comprehensive record for children either registered to a GP Practice, resident within the city or that attends a Birmingham school.
Key elements of the departments work are, firstly, to support the delivery of national screening elements of the Healthy Child Programme. This is predominantly by utilising Careplus to operate a call and recall appointment system (some 5,000 appointments are generated weekly) to schedule appointments and clinic sessions for GP Practices and Trust clinics, entering results and providing Information Reports. We also help support delivery other key strands of the Screening Programme including Neo Natal Hearing, Newborn Bloodspot Screening and Child Health Surveillance Programme.
A further key element of the department's work is to maintain the accuracy of the Careplus System which, in addition to maintaining all demographic data, involves transfer of Medical Records locally, regionally and nationally to ensure Clinical Teams have all available notes to hand for clinical sessions.
The department also provides information, reporting and management for statutory returns and local requirements and is also heavily involved in a number of projects to optimise the use of technology.
Further Information
NHS England decided in 2015 that a single Child Health Information System (CHIS) for the West Midlands would replace the multiple systems previously in operation, that cover Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire.
NHS England identified a number of benefits of using a single system:
- more effective support to safeguarding services.
- reduction in Ill-health and potential fatalities attributed to incomplete or inaccurate data and information due to operating multiple systems.
- allow better access to records by health practitioners enhancing care and safeguarding.
- peace of mind to parents/carers in the West Midlands by giving assurance that your child’s data can be efficiently tracked and saved and updated securely.
The single CHIS service means health practitioners can keep track of each child’s health records including, for example, their vaccinations when they move to another area within the West Midlands.