Connecting Care

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Connecting Care is an integrated digital care record system combining service user records from health and social care agencies across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. Children's services joined the system in January last year, with £900,000 from the government's Challenge Fund. "The rationale was that we had a number of professionals working with families, or holding information about them, but no central way to ensure people know the right information at the right time, to keep children safe," explains Sophie Gowans, manager of Bristol Council's first response team.

Gowans says the system is helping her team respond swiftly to callers' concerns about a child's wellbeing, starting with the identification of the children concerned. She cites the example of an anonymous referral of a child appearing underweight, with numerous injuries, from someone who just has an address. Identifying the family could previously be a lengthy business; multiple calls to other agencies requesting database searches. Now, after providing Connecting Care with a reason for viewing information - typically concerns for a child's safety or assessing the suitability of a referral - Gowans' team just need the address or another piece of information to identify family members and access their records.