New system helping monitor PPE levels in health and social care settings across Greater Manchester during COVID-19

• Greater Manchester care homes, GP practices, pharmacies and dental centres benefitting from new situation reporting system to support management of COVID-19 
• The situation reporting system allows all 10 local authorities to monitor PPE levels and infection rates in one dashboard 

CARE Homes and GP practices across Greater Manchester are now benefiting from a new, first of its kind, situation reporting system being used to monitor; PPE stock levels, staffing availability, infection rates and outbreaks to identify early signs of instability so swift action can be taken. 

The innovative reporting system, which is now operating in 540 Care Homes, allows all 10 Greater Manchester councils to share data in one place, creating a visual dashboard of information which shows a coherent picture of operational pressures during COVID-19. 

The situation reporting system is also live in 445 GP Practices, 681 pharmacies and was launched in urgent dental centres last week. In the coming weeks, the reporting system will also be rolled out in opticians and supported living centres. 

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham said: “I continue to be incredibly proud of the response in Greater Manchester to this pandemic, from the people volunteering to support our most vulnerable, to the businesses donating much needed PPE. 

“The digital response has been no exception, the speed at which this new situation reporting tool is being deployed across all 10 localities is amazing and is already helping us manage this pandemic in a much more coherent and proactive way.” 

“In Greater Manchester we have established a PPE Taskforce to procure PPE and ensure supplies are managed between our frontline services and other areas where there is need. The situation reporting system is not only helping us monitor infection rates, it is also helping us monitor levels of PPE equipment, giving the Taskforce visibility of where PPE will be needed in the coming weeks, to help prevent shortages across social care settings.” 

Earlier this year, the Greater Manchester PPE Taskforce was established to coordinate how much PPE stock each frontline service needs. The Taskforce, which brings together the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), MIDAS (Manchester’s inward investment agency with international business contacts), Growth Company, Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership (GMHSC Partnership) and local authorities, also set up a central procurement system for PPE in Greater Manchester to better fill gaps in PPE stock to better meet their needs than if they purely relied on national pandemic stock. 

The situation reporting system has been developed as part of the new Adult Social Care Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (OPEL) model which is helping manage pressures across the system during COVID-19. The model works by giving social care settings in Greater Manchester an OPEL score based on the data captured in the system.  

OPEL scores are measured on a scale of one to four, a score of four means that care homes in that local authority are unable to deliver comprehensive care safely, whereas an OPEL score of one means care homes can meet anticipated demand safely with their existing resources. Once established, OPEL scores are provided to local authority leads allowing them to efficiently allocate support where required. If one care home had an OPEL score of four due to low levels of PPE, then local authorities are able to swiftly rectify this by redistributing PPE accordingly. 

Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, Bury Council, Cllr Andrea Simpson, said: “The care home situation reporting system has transformed the way we work to support care homes across Bury.  

“The system is saving time for both care homes and council colleagues, by providing one dashboard where all relevant parties can access the required information. Information on infection rates, PPE stock and staffing levels are entered into one system which immediately flags any issues so council staff can urgently escalate as necessary. The situation reporting system has been so useful we plan to continue using it when we move back into a business as usual setting post COVID-19.” 

The data collected from the system is managed by the GMHSC Partnership, and will be regularly shared locally through the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s weekly press conferences. Recording OPEL levels across Greater Manchester allows the GMHSC Partnership to effectively support local authorities when they are under significant pressures, this includes supporting redistributing PPE and assisting with infection control. 

The Situation Reporting data and reporting sit on the Greater Manchester Digital Platform, an advanced technology solution that allows health and public sector professionals to use and share information at a quicker pace.  

The Greater Manchester Digital Platform was created to ensure that professionals supporting residents have the right information, at the right time and in the right way. Reporting of this kind has been developed by the GMCA, Salford Royal Foundation Trust and GMHSC Partnership to support the transformation and digitisation of public services.  

The Greater Manchester Digital Platform also holds a series of other applications developed to support health and public sector professionals. The Greater Manchester Community Hub Application, which sits on the platform, was developed to help coordinate volunteer activity and match volunteers with vulnerable people in need of support during the pandemic. 

Article Published: 08/06/2020 14:04 PM