The children’s services division of Milton Keynes Council has gone-live with Liquidlogic’s PROTOCOL Integrated Children’s System, in order to meet new government regulations.
The web-based system is accordant with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) ICS compliance Phase 1B, ensuring that the council’s 250 care practitioners are recording all mandatory information on children in care using the correct forms.
Liquidlogic’s ErrorTolerant Search Module was also integrated with PROTOCOL ICS, ensuring that fuzzy logic is applied when searching for details of vulnerable children to remove the risk of duplicate files being accidentally created.
David Merrett, information manager for social care at Milton Keynes Council, told EHI Primary Care: “One of the worst things that can happen in this job is creating duplicate records on a child. Duplicate files result in information being logged in different places, meaning a child’s vulnerability may not be escalated at the appropriate time, since only a partial view of the child’s situation might be detailed.
“Our existing OLM CareFirst system did not have DCSF compliance and was difficult to search with, especially with children who have foreign names or had names where their forename and surname could both be Christian names, resulting in confusion when searching for children and the creation of a new record for them.”
Using the new system, the council’s children’s services can now collaborate more easily with partner agencies, such as the PCT and the NSPCC.
Merrett said: “The solution improves the quality, availability and timeliness of information on vulnerable children, to ensure that practitioners have a holistic view of a child’s wellbeing. With its web service architecture, the system can easily be updated as new compliance measures come in, as soon as Liquidlogic achieve that compliance phase.
“This flexibility makes change quick, cheap and easy and gives us the best chance to move forwards with Phase 1C and so-on compliance as the DCSF releases new specifications. Working with a complaint solution ensures we are following best practice, reducing the risk of anything going wrong.”
As the children’s division is based in one office, training was easier for staff. IT staff worked on the system before it went live, and floorwalkers were used afterwards to ensure staff were able to work on the new system easily.
Denise Harrison, sales and marketing director as Liquidlogic, said: “Not only was it a smooth IT implementation, but Milton Keynes’ care practitioners also saw the benefits of the ICS system straight away, which enabled us to go live with the system within six months.
“The care workers could see past the initial pain of having to get used to working with a new system and recognised the immediate dividends brought in by having full visibility into the council’s case load on vulnerable children.”
A DCSF spokesperson told EHIPC: “The ICS has been developed to improve outcomes for children defined as being in need, under the Children Act 1989. It provides a conceptual framework, a method of practice and a business process to support practitioners and managers in undertaking the key tasks of assessment, planning, intervention and review.”
Last week, EHIPC reported that an independent evaluation of the ICS claimed that the system has “yet to demonstrate the degree to which and how it is fit for purpose”.
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