Just one week after its launch HealthPathways South Tyneside is already making a difference, with feedback on its pathways coming in thick and fast.

The first HealthPathways site to operate in the UK only launched on 18 August, at a special launch event attended by more than 200 delegates from across the local health system. It was here that they heard the HealthPathways story from CDHB General Manager - Planning and Funding Carolyn Gullery and heard from the South Tyneside team on what the project will mean for their patients.

But thanks to five months of preparation leading up to this event, which saw the South Tyneside team work closely with Streamliners staff in New Zealand, the site launched with 80 rapidly localised live pages.

According to Dr David Hambleton, Chief Executive of the NHS South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group, the push to go live with a large batch of significant localised content is really paying off.

“To have been able to go live with over 80 pages is a huge success and testament to a great team effort from both sides of the world over the last five months.

“The feedback in the room was exceptionally positive and we are already seeing feedback coming into the team which will only continue to strengthen the usefulness of the information in each of the pathways. The launch was of course only a milestone and we’re all excited to move on to localising the next phase of pathways and beginning to see the impact its introduction has on the day-to-day work of our clinical colleagues and, most importantly, the patients of South Tyneside.”

(YouTube, 5 mins 24 secs)

HealthPathways Implementation Consultant Juanita Gibson was one of the Streamliners team that worked closely with South Tyneside.

“Last week’s launch was the culmination of an incredible amount of hard work by a small group of people. With just two clinical editors, a programme manager, and a coordinator (who joined the team only a couple of weeks ago), that they managed to exceed their lofty target for go live is a credit to them all. Under a lot of pressure in a short amount of time, they dug in and left no stone unturned.”

The team’s tenacity and their commitment to rapidly localise pathways instead of focusing on original content has showcased the benefits of following best practice when launching a HealthPathways site. However, the work done by Carolyn Gullery to help South Tyneside build alliances across their health system has also played a strong role.

“Carolyn has spent a lot of time with South Tyneside to help them with their alliancing structures, which is a core part of transforming any health system under the whole of system approach,” HealthPathways International Business Development Manager Andy Froggatt says.

“It’s all about getting the right people around the table and making sure all the component parts are working together. This is standard stuff for the CDHB, but strengthening these relationships is all part of the journey for any HealthPathways region."

View the full launch presentation for HealthPathways South Tyneside (YouTube, 38 mins).