NHS North of England Commissioning Support Unit (Hosted by NHS England)

EBIcheck+ Module

EBIcheck+ is a web based system that provides an instant funding decision on whether a patient meets the relevant policy criteria and therefore can be granted prior funding approval for procedures covered in both the local Value Based Commissioning Policy and also for any national Evidence Based Interventions.

Features

• Consistent Policy applied for all system users in a locality
• Simple and Easy to use system
• Web based - accessible to both Primary and Secondary Care
• Different levels of access available to different user groups
• Key data reporting functionality to allow system monitoring
• Fully hosted with no software installation requirements: quick to implement
• Minimal training required due to simplicity of system usability
• Allows patient level reconciliation to take place with Acute Providers
• Developed by the NHS, for the NHS with practicing clinicians

Benefits

• Ensures policy compliance, reducing the risk of harm to patients
• Patients only proceed for elective procedures where benefits outweigh risk
• Flexibility to host multiple policies, across large geographic regions
• Reduces the number of inappropriate elective procedures, releasing capacity
• Supports financial savings to the local health economy
• Ensures procedures considered through right process (IFR v Prior Approval)
• Contributes to provider cost improvement programmes (through reducing targeted activity)
• Supports the reduction of inappropriate Individual Funding Requests
• Instant decisions for Prior Approval - no delays
• Reduction in patients referred to secondary care for outpatient appointments

£5,500 a licence

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at necsu.busdev@nhs.net. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

851572931052132

Contact

Business Development
0191 3751789
necsu.busdev@nhs.net

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
• What software services is the service an extension to: Check+ IFRcheck+ module
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: No
• System requirements:
  • Connection required via Health and Social Care Network (formally N3-network)
  • Modern web browser

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Within 2-3 hours during office hours, weekends are not covered
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Onsite support
• Support levels: During the implementation period, intense support levels will be provided to the customer. Following go-live, a high level of maintenance and support will be provided (along with a wrap around programme support where applicable) on an ongoing basis, to the customers requirement.; ; Further support can be provided by system experts in relation to training, system access and general maintenance longer term. We also have a team who will support you with other technical or clinical queries you may have.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: NECS will meet with the Customer(s) to discuss and agree the required support levels needed to start using the system. During implementation, NECS will provide both face to face and virtual training, as agreed with the customer dependent upon their requirements, and delivered to all relvant stakeholders.; ; We will also provide a training video and user guides (for both primary and secondary care).; ; Initial system-wide engagement will be a key focus.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats:
  • Microsoft Word (Where appropriate, and requested)
  • Excel documents may be provided during mobilisation
  • Training videos will be provided to support wider learning
• End-of-contract data extraction: NECS will download and provide the customer with their relevant data held within the system.
• End-of-contract process: Upon contract expiry or termination, the customer will be provided with a copy of all relevant information / data currently held within the system at that time.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Description of service interface: The EBIcheck+ module is accessed via a web browser. The system has been designed to be quick and easy to use.
• Accessibility standards: None or don’t know
• Description of accessibility: Non-text content is supported through the inclusion of text based values to ensure the information is accessible.
• Accessibility testing: We have not undertaken any interface testing with users of assistive technology.
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: The system is customisable in relation to the policies and the criteria contained are bespoke based upon local, regional or national need. The system will respond to funding requests, based upon the criteria the customer has set. The customer (National, Regional, ICB, Providers) can set this themselves, or alternatively, we can provide a fully inclusive end-to-end service to manage the entire process.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The application has been load tested with positive results, providing the assurance that thousands of users can access the system and generate tickets at the same time. In addition, service updates generally go-live out of hours to support further.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Service usage statistics (including login audit, login attempts) ; Information re: Prior Approval tickets - total number of approved, declined cases (by speciality and procedure / treatment); We can also triangulate this number with data submitted by provider to ensure compliance
• Reporting types:
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Staff screening not performed
• Government security clearance: None

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
• Protecting data at rest: Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: No
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Depending upon access level user will have the opportunity to download summary reports of successful/unsuccessful tickets.; ; The user/customer are also able to download the Prior Approval tickets at individual ticket level. If a bulk download of all tickets is requested (though unlikely), this can be provided by NECS
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: PDF (individual user level)
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats: Images (jpeg, btmp)

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: 99.9% assured availability
• Approach to resilience: Our datacentre is set up to be resilient through two data centres with fail over, which is transparent for the end users. This is thoroughly tested within the test environment to ensure minimal disruption to customers.
• Outage reporting: Any outages will be reported via email correspondence to designated customer leads.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Initial system authentication is undertaken in the following stages:; 1. User self-registration and provision of credentials; 2. Automated verification of email and agreement of End User License Agreement; 3. User account request sent to [users] employing organisation, approval granted/rejected by designated administrator for that organisation; 4. Accounts are audited routinely with each organisations administrator to ensure ongoing user eligibility.; 5. Routine access is authenticated at each incidence of access, using username and secure password validation
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: NECS Administrator initial authorisation and continuous audit of all management account permissions.; ; Multi factor authentication is applicable for such access.; ; Once the user has registered, they will then receive an email to the above, designated NHS email address. The user must then click on the link to verify the account. Once fully registered and verified, the individual must then be granted permissions by a senior access role in order to access their own organisation within the system.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Description of management access authentication: Management access is restricted to appropriate internal NECS staff by system administrator. It is not an available option for any user registration, protected by IP restriction and MFA using Microsoft Authenticator

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: BSI
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 26/04/22
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: 14.1.3 Protecting Application services transactions; 14.2.1 Secure development policy; 14.2.5 Secure development environment; 14.2.6 Outsourced development
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: Data Protection and Security Toolkit

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: Our policies and procedures ensure adherence to both UK and NSA law and professional requirements and are fully compliant with, but not limited to, the latest GDPR, Data Protection Act (DPA), Caldicott Principles and the 10 Data Security Standards (National Data Guardian). We hold an IG Toolkit score of Level 2 and the governance of our ICT service is underpinned by a workforce of engineers with ITIL version 3 certification. Our policies and procedures have been designed to adhere to ISO 27001 Security Standards.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: There is an ITIL based Change Advisory Board (CAB) that manages the processes in accordance with the NECS Procedures.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: The system is regularly penetration tested for vulnerabilities in coding and security. It is fully protected by Microsoft Update Service.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: The infrastructure is monitored by the supplier with active port monitoring alerts in place. Incidents are dealt with in line with the NECS ITIL Incident, Request Fulfilment and Problem Management Procedure. ; ; Standard response times are below: Priority Level 1 (Major Incident) KPI - 95% resolution within 4 hours Priority Level 2 KPI - 90% resolution within 8 hours Priority Level 3 KPI - 80% within 3 working days Priority Level 4 KPI - 95% resolution within 5 working days Priority Level 5 KPI - 95% resolution within 30 working days
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: The management of Incidents follows the standards set out by ITIL and defined in our own Incident and Problem Management Policy. Users report incidents via the Service Desk either via Telephone. Each incident is given a unique reference number and a priority which defines the length of time allowed to resolve the incident. Incidents are analysed to look for common trends by reviewing the types of incidents logged and trying to identify root causes. We report each month to our customers on the number of Incidents logged and our performance in terms of meeting the fix time.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: Yes
• Connected networks: Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  NECS is dedicated to assisting customers, though the delivery of our services, in achieving their strategic and operational objectives and ultimately enhancing outcomes and efficiency. ; ; Led by NECS' Organisational Development and Corporate Services Director our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Group, is responsible for ensuring we meet our CSR Strategy. Our Strategy underscores our commitment to environmental sustainability. We aim to achieve 'Net Zero' carbon emissions, within our control, by 2040 and 'Net Zero' for emissions, we can influence, by 2045. To fulfil this pledge, we continually adapt our processes, harnessing digital platforms to minimise emissions and resource consumption.; ; To digitalise service delivery, we leverage tools like SharePoint and Microsoft Teams to create accessible real-time digital collaboration workspaces. This fosters seamless communication and enables sharing of insights, comments, and revisions, whilst minimising our carbon footprint.; ; By embracing digitalisation processes and Artificial Intelligence, we enhance efficiency, accessibility, and collaboration, while simultaneously reducing the environmental impact associated with traditional paper-based processes.; ; We continuously monitor and analyse our environmental impact, employing proven continuous improvement techniques to mitigate any increase in emissions or resource consumption.; ; We commit to a 20% reduction in our carbon footprint, a 30% decrease in paper consumption, and a 15% improvement in overall operational efficiency.; ; Our method statement includes implementing cloud-based project management tools, minimising in-person meetings through Microsoft Teams, reducing paper usage by adopting electronic documentation, optimising travel routes to minimise transportation emissions, and transparently monitoring and reporting on Key Performance Indicators for continual improvement.; ; Our healthcare procurement team ensures compliance with the Social Value Act 2012, considering economic, social, and environmental factors in commissioning services. We support clients to achieve health improvements, reduce health inequalities, and meet Net Zero and Carbon Reduction targets. Our team have gained invaluable knowledge and experience which we utilise when delivering our solutions.

  Covid-19 recovery

  As an integral part of the NHS, NECS played a pivotal role in supporting NHS England, Integrated Care Boards and Foundation Trusts in navigating and recovering from the challenges posed by COVID-19. We took a proactive approach in managing resources and internal capacity, ensuring our customers received the necessary support to alleviate pressure on services. Despite pandemic restrictions, our employees swiftly adapted to new working methods, embracing innovation to meet evolving demands.; ; We continue our commitment in supporting COVID-19 recovery efforts in several ways:; 1. Providing Strategic Guidance: We offer guidance and support to navigate the complexities of COVID-19 recovery planning. This includes assisting the development and implementation of recover strategies tailored to each providers unique needs and challenges. ; 2. Delivering Operational Support: We provide operational support to help providers manage and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. This involves assisting with workforce planning, resource allocation and service redesign to meet challenging demands. ; 3. Facilitating Innovation: We encourage innovation in solution delivery to address the challenges posed by COVID-19. This includes supporting the adoption of digital solutions to improve efficiency. ; 4. Promoting Health and Well-being: Our mental health "first aiders" provide support and signposting to resources to promote physical and mental wellbeing. We collaborated with trade unions to develop a new framework for flexible working, reflecting our commitment to adaptability amidst COVID-19 and the recovery period. Our framework emphasises decentralisation from traditional office setups, prioritising wellbeing, and accelerating carbon footprint reduction efforts. ; ; NECS is dedicated to playing a proactive and supportive role in COVID-19 recovery efforts, leveraging its expertise, resources, and partnerships to help provider organisations and communities emerge stronger from the pandemic. We are keen to share our experiences and best practices with both providers and customers, fostering collaborative efforts toward sustainability and efficiency.

  Tackling economic inequality

  NECS, as an NHS organisation, is guided by core values of professionalism, honesty, integrity, and high-performance standards. We prioritise both short-term objectives and long-term sustainability, striving for a balance between acquired skills, employment opportunities, and societal impact.; ; Embracing a culture of continuous learning, we offer an online platform with diverse courses for NECS employees and customers. We track participation and completion rates to inform future course offerings, aiming for an 8% annual increase in course completions over the next two years.; ; Recognising the importance of hands-on experience, we launched the NECS100 Programme for Graduate trainees and Apprenticeships in 2020. In the first year, this programme saw the recruitment of 100 graduates and apprentices into our organisation. We continue to increase apprenticeships and graduate trainee opportunities annually, ensuring diversity in recruitment and providing mentorship for knowledge sharing and skill development.; ; We conduct periodic assessments of staff skills and expertise to identify gaps and areas for improvement. Collaborating with contracting authorities helps us tailor services to evolving customer needs. Our Business Development Team and members of our Executive Team have access to HSJ intelligence, which is a digital platform offering real-time information exchange. This helps us anticipate market needs and adapt the services that we provide accordingly. ; ; Feedback loops with customers provide insights into service effectiveness and emerging needs. ; ; Our method statement outlines ongoing efforts to enhance online learning platforms, strengthen apprenticeship programs, conduct needs assessments, and address inequalities in skill development. Through measurable Key Performance Indicators, we ensure transparency, accountability, and adaptability in achieving desired outcomes.; ; Overall, our skills policy aims to elevate the overall skill level of our workforce, bridge gaps, and reduce inequalities in skill development, creating a diverse, inclusive, and adaptable workforce prepared for the dynamic healthcare environment.

  Equal opportunity

  ECS is committed to addressing inequalities within our organisation, evidenced by our ongoing reporting against the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES). Through continuous efforts, we strive to enhance performance across all WRES and WDES indicators, gaining crucial insights into the challenges we face and working towards fostering a fairer, more inclusive workplace.; ; Our recruitment and selection policy reflects our commitment to positive discrimination through the Disability Confident scheme, ensuring that candidates are assessed solely based on their skills and relevant experiences. We take proactive measures to minimise opportunities for discrimination during recruitment by anonymising application forms and applying objective selection criteria. Furthermore, we maintain equitable pay across the organisation by adhering to NHS Agenda for Change pay rates.; ; Our training programmes prioritise Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Respect, creating an environment where diversity is celebrated, and equal opportunities are provided. We establish ground rules within teams to cultivate safe and inclusive learning environments, empowering every individual to realise their full potential.; ; To address inequality in training and development, we revamped our Talent Management Programme in 2020, offering stretch assignments and mentoring opportunities. Additionally, we introduced a 'reverse mentoring' programme, facilitating knowledge-sharing and enhancing employment prospects for colleagues from under-represented groups.; ; NECS focuses on enhancing experience, culture, and outcomes for all colleagues through an equality lens to support both protected and vulnerable groups. Leveraging insights from various reports and surveys, we have developed an Inclusion and Equality strategy encompassing communication pathways, workplace accessibility improvements, educational enhancements, workforce development support, and promotion of inclusive leadership.; ; These initiatives and policies are fundamental to our operations and will be upheld during the delivery of any call-off agreement. We remain open to sharing best practices with our suppliers and customers, fostering a culture of inclusivity and equity across our ecosystem.

  Wellbeing

  NECS prioritises good mental health and wellbeing among our employees, recognising the impact we have on wellbeing, longevity, physical health, and productivity. We are committed to implementing measures that encourage and promote a healthy workforce.; ; Our approach to managing health and wellbeing is integrated and comprehensive, overseen by our Health and Wellbeing Group who ensure that NECS takes a proactive and engaging stance towards enhancing the health and wellbeing of our employees, thereby fostering a supportive and nurturing work environment.; ; Our health and wellbeing champions play a pivotal role in promoting a culture that prioritises both the physical and mental health of our workforce. These champions not only support their colleagues but also receive support and development opportunities themselves, contributing to a mutually beneficial environment.; ; In line with our commitment to supporting mental health concerns, NECS has trained several employees as Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs). While MHFAs are not clinically trained in mental health treatment, they are equipped to recognise early signs of mental health issues and provide responsive assistance, including signposting individuals to appropriate support services.; ; To further support employee wellbeing, we offer an Employee Assistance Programme, providing access to online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness exercises for mental health, a virtual gym, advice on sleep and nutrition for physical health.; ; We encourage employees to engage in volunteering initiatives through allocated time and funding. Since launching this programme in July 2023, employees have reported improvements in self-esteem, confidence, and work-life balance, along with the opportunity to learn new skills.; ; These initiatives and policies are integral to our operations and will be upheld during the delivery of any call-off agreement. Furthermore, we are committed to sharing our best practices with suppliers and customers, fostering a collaborative approach to promoting mental health and wellbeing across our ecosystem.

Pricing

• Price: £5,500 a licence
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at necsu.busdev@nhs.net. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.