Connect Me

Connect Me is the new name for a variety of services or options which may be offered to help people interact and communicate with their healthcare professionals. It can also help people to feel more connected and support people with their health and wellbeing from a place that is most convenient such as home or work.

You can read more about this and see a short animation explaining what the service provides here .

 

Taking ALISS to the next level – the single source of truth for communities

What is ALISS?

ALISS  – A Local Information System for Scotland – is a national digital programme enabling people and professionals to find and share information on resources, services, groups, and support in their local communities and online.

ALISS’s aim is to ensure that everyone in Scotland has the right information, at the right time, about resources that are available to help them live well and stay connected to their community.

Using ALISS

Resources you can find on ALISS are added and edited by people living and working in communities. This means that if you cannot find the service you are looking for, you can add it to the system by creating an account.

Developments on ALISS

Over the past two years, the ALISS team have been working towards four strategic objectives: more data, better data, better experience and more users.  So, if you have visited ALISS before, you will notice that much has changed of late.

More data

Since the lifting of pandemic restrictions, staff have been travelling to a range of communities across the country to promote and train people in the use of ALISS.

The ALISS programme has secured funding from Innovate UK (UKRI) to instigate a number of developments on ALISS.  Notable amongst these is a proposed proof-of-concept project of intelligent data aggregation.  There are many local directories of service in operation across Scotland.  This project seeks to integrate them with ALISS, seeking a ‘single source of truth’ for citizens.

 

Better data

Quality of data on ALISS is vital, and staff have been working on manually cleansing the data held.  This has seen hundreds of entries either updated or deleted from the system.  This ensures that people searching ALISS can have greater confidence in the search results it produces.

Over the coming months, the ALISS team will be implementing enhanced data governance processes.  This will include automatic prompts for users to update their information.

Better experience

User research on accessibility has been published.  Recommendations based on people affected by sensory loss are now being implemented.

More users

With a view to attracting new and returning users to the site, ALISS had a rebrand and site refresh in July 2022.

ALISS data could already be accessed on NHS Inform Scotland’s Service Directory More access points have recently been added, including Mydex and social prescribing platforms.

One of the most exciting recent developments has been the launch of an Alexa app for ALISS.  By issuing the command, “Alexa, enable My Scottish Community”, users can use their voice to search on ALISS.

Further information

ALISS is funded by the Scottish Government and is operated by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE). ALISS is coproduced with people and professionals in Scotland’s communities and values local and national resources as the key to living well.

For more information, please contact hello@aliss.org.

Near Me

Near Me is a video consulting service that enables people to attend appointments from home or wherever is convenient. The service is already widely used across NHS Scotland for health and care appointments and is now being rolled out across a wide range of public services.

All you need is a device for making video calls like a smartphone and an internet connection. Near Me is a secure form of video consulting approved for use by the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland.

The benefits of Near Me include

  • Reduced travel to appointments: time, cost, convenience
  • Reduced time away from work, school or home
  • Easier to attend if you usually need someone to take you to appointments
  • Enables you to have someone with you for support at your appointment (either with you or joining the consultation by video from another location, even from abroad)
  • Better for the environment
  • Reduces spread of infectious diseases

How does Near Me work in Health?

Your provider (such as the hospital, GP practice or other service) will give you a website address for its video clinic. Most services will give you an appointment date and time when you should start your video call. You do not need to download an App or create an account.

Near Me video consulting is not suitable for all appointments.  If you need a physical examination or a procedure carried out you will still need to be seen in-person.  Your health, care  or other provider can advise you on what is appropriate for you.

You can find out more about Near Me and video consultations here.

 

What Matters To You? day 2022

Scotland’s Chief Nursing Officer, Alex McMahon talks about What Matters to You? day 2022.

We are once again celebrating What Matters To You? day with our colleagues throughout Scotland and from around the world.

“What matters to you?” is a simple question that can have a big impact on care. It helps to ensure that the care you give is in line with patient preferences and is person-centred.

A compassionate therapeutic relationship helps people experience less pain, less anxiety and this can help wounds to heal more quickly. Additionally, care providers experience higher rates of job satisfaction and lower rates of emotional burn out.

The ‘What Matters To You?’ conversation describes an approach that supports staff to understand what’s important to the people they are caring for and supporting and establishes a caring compassionate connection.

It is based on the principle that listening carefully to what matters to each person helps us to provide the care and support that people really need and want. It also recognises that listening is in itself a powerful intervention.

In line with the principles of Realistic Medicine, our ambition is that conversations about what matters become a core part of how health and care services are delivered across Scotland, every day.

The refreshed What Matters To You.scot website has lots more information about why asking “What matters to you?” is so important, as well as resources and useful videos which you can use on What Matters To You? day 2022 #WMTY2022.

And the What Matters to You? world website has a information about how your colleagues in the rest of the world are having this conversation and providing person-centred care.

 

This is what you told us about communication

To know a bit more about people’s experiences of healthcare we asked volunteers from a local patient group in NHS Tayside to speak to us. We were interested in their personal experiences of different types of communication with healthcare providers. In particular we wanted to know what they thought was done well and what could have been better. We have captured some of what they told us in the video “This is what you told us about communication.”

The day was organised and delivered by Dr Phyllis Easton, Health Intelligence Manager and lead for Health Literacy, NHS Tayside and Dr Kate Arrow, Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellow and Anaesthetic Specialty Registrar with NHS Tayside. Kate was previously involved in the development of a pop-up shop designed to allow people to share their experiences & stories of their appointments journey. This proved to be really successful so we “borrowed” the approach for our session.

The pop-up shop enabled a really good discussion. It utilised the built in touchpoints and helped our volunteers think about the different parts of their journey, encouraging them to reflect on their experiences. Kate was on hand to guide them, listening to their stories and noting down their suggestions as they went along.  Following this our volunteers met with Phyllis to discuss their thoughts about communication within healthcare.

We asked for their thoughts on when they have received good and poor communication about their healthcare and how that made them feel.  The following is a snapshot of the feedback we received;

“I feel very relaxed with her and I can talk to her as a person…I am not just another annoying person who wants to see a doctor.”

“There was no explanation as to why I had to do this”

“After then finding this information out we can…get a good understanding of how to control it, how to make the situation better and how just to understand it better”

“…of course that just leaves a negative effect”

We can’t thank our volunteers enough for being so forthcoming and happy to talk about their experiences. They provided lots of useful feedback which can only help with NHS Scotland’s aim of improving services and access for all.

 

Photo of the pop up shop