The next phase of development of a platform that supports evidence-based clinical and care decision-making across health and social care will now be led by the NHS – a move leaders say will benefit patient safety and free up staff time.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) will take over ownership of the Right Decision Service as it embarks on a three-year expansion to become a ‘one-stop shop’ for the most up-to-date advice, guidance, shared decision aids and risk-scoring tools for health and care professionals.

Additional funding of more than £525,000 from the Scottish government will support HIS to bring all these aspects together into a single app and embed the service as a mainstream national asset for the sector.

Safia Qureshi, Director of Evidence & Digital at HIS, says she is grateful for the “outstanding work” of the Digital Health and Care Innovation, which supported the Right Decision Service from its early innovation stages:

“We are delighted that the Right Decision Service will be joining us, as it presents a unique opportunity to deliver our advice and guidance at the point of care.

“This will significantly benefit patient safety, making it easier for health and care professionals to access the information they need to make the right decisions, at the right time.

“We hope that the future development of the Right Decision Service will have a significant, positive impact for health and care staff, freeing up more of their time and using resources available to them as efficiently as possible.”

The current pilot version of the award-winning service links various online tools and apps together, helping to deliver on priorities across urgent and unscheduled care, integrated care, routine care and supported self-management and shared decision-making.

The Right Decision Service comprises a national platform that offers web and mobile decision

support tools and governance, implementation support and training to help teams embed decision support in day-to-day activities.

It is thought to be currently in use by 11 NHS territorial boards, six health and social care partnerships, four national NHS boards and three national social care organisations.

The Right Decision Service has also been recognised in the recently published action plan for Value-Based Health and Care – a key government priority – as an important enabler of safe and timely care and to maximise benefit.

Michael Matheson MSP, Health Secretary, welcomes the expansion and says the service is a testament to the potential of Scotland’s collaborative approach to tackling challenges across the sector:

“This is a groundbreaking example of a digital service that has been developed and piloted with our partners Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI) through to delivery. The programme is now transitioning into a national service in support of our workforce to be led by a national NHS Board (HIS) and highlights the success of our collaborative approach.

“I’d like to thank all of those involved in the development of the Right Decision Service and look forward to our health and care workforce being able to make greater use of decision support tools.”

A survey earlier this year shows that the Right Decision is already empowering staff to deliver safer and more consistent care, as well as strengthening their focus on outcomes that matter to people being cared for.

A total of 79% of surveyed leads said that the service's tools are already improving patient safety in their organisations and 74% said it had improved the quality of patient care.

Professor George Crooks OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), says the early success of the service is a perfect example of the value added by a national innovation centre:

“The transfer of the Right Decision service from DHI into Healthcare Improvement Scotland, where it will continue to flourish and add increasing value to the delivery of high quality, safe health and care services for the people of Scotland, demonstrates how a national innovation centre can support, nurture and grow a new digital service to the point where it can successfully move to national adoption and scale.”

Healthcare Improvement Scotland is now set to develop a timeline for the next phase of development, which will run until the end of March 2025.

 

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