South West London CCG Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21

borough level support is offered to practices to address and improve on these areas. The challenge over 2020-21 has been that due to the Covid-19 pandemic much of the data normally reviewed to assess quality was not being collected, as practices focused on changing their ways of working to deliver the Covid response. However, there has been ongoing communication between the CCG, practices and clinical leads to ensure issues and concerns are raised, and the CCG has been able to provide support to practices to address these. Making a difference The Make A Difference (MkAD) system is a quality alert, management and monitoring system that was implemented across South West London this year. The system was designed to implement the recommendations of the Francis Inquiry (2013). The system is a simple, user-friendly online form for healthcare professionals to flag any concerns (usually relatively minor ones), issues, compliments, and good practice that they have become aware of through contact with their patients. This feedback is relayed to the relevant provider, who is responsible for investigating and resolving anything that is raised as a concern, and for responding to the healthcare professional that reported the alert. The MkAD system was implemented across Wandsworth GP practices as an early adopter in 2013. The system was introduced in Merton in 2018, in Sutton in 2019, and Kingston and Richmond in July 2020. Make a Difference was implemented in Croydon in January 2021. Whilst initially the MkAD system was set up for GPs and healthcare professionals in primary care to highlight any concerns to the CCG, the system is also available for any healthcare professionals from other providers to raise an alert and is not exclusive to those in primary care. A MkAD alert can be used to raise concerns regarding a range of issues, including poor quality of clinical care, issues with referral or discharge processes, clinical pathways, or service provision and may relate to clinical or non-clinical issues. It is not a replacement for the complaint mechanism, nor is it for reporting serious clinical concerns or incidents. It is intended to act as an early warning/feedback system, providing intelligence that can be used to address any wider quality issues, facilitate shared learning with services and inform the commissioning process and service redesign. Care homes Although we have no formal commissioning or oversight role with many care homes, this year we have worked closer than ever with our partners in the care sector supporting them through the pandemic, particularly on infection prevention and control. We value the commitment the care homes have taken with us in providing the safest possible services for the most vulnerable people in our community. 94 | NHS South West London Clinical Commissioning Group