December 2024
December marks an exciting milestone for the UCP programme, with the UCP template expansion launching in just five days on 10th December! This newsletter is packed with all the essential information you need to prepare for the expansion, along with details about the resources available to support you.
Countdown to the UCP expansion
The launch of the expanded UCP will mark the culmination of two years of work developing the template to transform the UCP into a broader personalised care and support plan to help even more Londoners.
The expansion follows a consultation during which many health and care staff told us that they wanted a more flexible digital care plan that could be used to support patients who may have other health needs, such as long-term conditions, and may not necessarily be receiving end-of-life care or palliative care. The development of the expanded care plan has therefore taken place with close collaboration with both clinicians and people with lived experience to ensure it works effectively for everyone. Ahead of the launch, the new template has been thoroughly tested to ensure it is clinically safe and that all submitted information will migrate. However, if you do need support, please get in touch. There will be additional helpdesk support during the go-live period so there will be plenty of help available.
Dates for the Diary
Thursday 5th December 4-5pm ‘UCP expansion explained’ webinar – Thank you to everyone who joined our first webinar last week. There is still time to register for the second webinar today 4-5pm. A recording will also be available on our learn page soon.
Tuesday 10th December – The UCP expansion go-live date.
UCP expansion key messages
- Sign up to our ‘UCP Expansion Explained’ webinar on 5th December 4-5pm here
- Please submit all in progress forms
- Launching on 10th December 2024
- The UCP remains a tool for advance care planning
- All submitted information will appear in the new care plan template
- Why are we expanding? Users asked us for a flexible, digital care plan
- System functionalities will be the same
- New forms and data fields will provide a richer picture of the person receiving care
- The expanded UCP can be viewed on our Training Environment
- Training and communication resources are available
- Medications and Allergies data will be pulled from the GP record in real time via GP Connect from early 2025
The key messages can also be viewed on our website here.
Final Reminder: submit in-progress forms before the UCP expansion launch
We wanted to provide a final reminder to please submit any in progress forms ahead of the UCP expansion go live date. All submitted forms will be automatically migrated to the new template and no care plans will be lost. However, there is a risk that some forms that are in an ‘in progress’ state may not be migrated. This is because some forms in the current template are being combined into a single form in the expanded template. If one form is in progress while the other is submitted, only the submitted form will be migrated to the new template. However, if both forms are submitted, they will both be included in the migration. Therefore, it is essential that all completed forms are submitted before the launch of the new template planned for 10th December 2024.
System downtime on Tuesday 10th December The UCP platform will update on Tuesday 10th December between 6pm and 10pm. This will include downtime which will prevent users viewing or creating care plans from external systems and the UCP web portal. During downtime, clinicians will be able to access a PDF copy of the person’s most recent care plan via the London Care Record (HIE).
Improvements to medications and allergies information
After the expanded UCP launches, medications and allergies will not be viewable or editable in the care plan for a short period of time. This is because in early 2025, an integration with GP Connect will go live which will pull medication and allergy information from the GP record in real time. This will reduce the administrative burden and allow users to see exactly the same information as the patient’s GP. During this period, please look to another source for this information, such as, the London Care Record or your local EPR system.
Our learn page has been refreshed
To support you with the upcoming change, we have refreshed the learn page on our website. We have updated our existing resources to ensure they can support you to use the expanded template and developed new resources. The resources have been separated into 3 sections: ‘Got 5 minutes?’, ‘Time for lunch?’ and ‘Protected learning’ to provide just enough information, just when you need it.
The resources are designed to be easy to use and can be adapted locally for formalised training, peer-to-peer learning or self-guided study. All the resources are also available on the NHS Learning Hub. Additionally, the training portal has been updated with the ‘final’ expanded template so users can familiarise themselves with it. To log in or register for access, please go to the ‘time for lunch’ or ‘protected learning’ sections on the learn page.
IE11 Deprecation Since 8am on Monday 2nd December, users who have Internet Explorer (IE) as their desktop or Electronic Health Record (EHR) browser are no longer able to access UCP and will see a message asking them to contact the UCP helpdesk, to be set up with a web portal account. All other users are unaffected.
| A personalised care plan for any Londoner who needs it 2024 has been a significant year for the UCP team. Back in March the care plan was expanded to support sickle cell, helping to ensure people living with the disease get the right treatment at the right time that is individually tailored to their needs. In just 9 months, over 7200 sickle cell care plans have been created using the tool which equates to around 70% of the sickle cell community managed in London. This has demonstrated remarkable growth in a short time with ambulance crew already viewing hundreds of sickle cell care plans when called out to people in a crisis. 2024 was also the year the UCP became available to view on the NHS App providing assurance to patients that their care plans had been documented correctly and in line with their wishes and preferences. Hundreds of people are viewing their UCP’s via the application. We know there is more work to do to ensure carers can also view UCP’s for dependents and to support those who are digitally excluded. In 2025 we will be working hard to enable Londoners to start and edit their UCP’s via this function. This month the UCP is expanding further to become a broader personalised care and support plan. This marks an important moment for care planning in the capital and offers so much potential for the UCP to make even more of a positive difference for Londoners. We are excited about our future transformation moving into 2025, knowing the UCP has created a strong platform for the future. |