Wider RDS developments

PROMs/PREMs platform 

A series of online and face to face workshops are in progress to capture patient and professional requirements for individualised patient-level dashboards that will enable tracking of changes in Patient Reported Outcome and Experience Measures (PROMs and PREMs) over time.  This will provide a valuable focus for shared decision-making discussions focused on what matters to the patient. 

Automated conversion of Word guidelines to structured and formatted RDS toolkits 

This ‘press of a button’ capability to convert SIGN guidelines into RDS toolkits with consistent structure and formatting is in its final testing stages and should be available for live implementation in the next few weeks. In due course we will explore the potential for extending this functionality to other guidelines and pathways. 

Improving searching and browsing for medicines information  

Following on from stakeholder consultation workshops we have now designed a clear and user-friendly approach to future searching and browsing for medicines information on RDS. We are now prioritising the technical requirements to deliver these developments. 

Alerting to new medicines information on the RDS 

An initial simple approach has been agreed to setting up these alerts and enabling users to sign up to them. 

Work is progressing with this development, and an expert group is being convened to define the decision support algorithms and recommendations for prescribing that will populate the decision support system.  

We are now planning the pilot process in NHS Lanarkshire for this new tool.

The RDS team is now sourcing and summarising the evidence to update these high-risk prescribing decision support alerts which enable early detection of medicines-related risk in complex patients with polypharmacy. 

Evaluation by University of Dundee of the impact of this system on prescribing practice in NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside is now underway.