The FRAIT Software was developed by researchers on the College of South Wales (Credit score: Ceri Breeze / Shutterstock.com)
Powys Educating Well being Board (PTHB) has develop into the primary well being board in Wales to roll out the eFRAIT digital instrument for well being guests.
The instrument is an digital model of the Household Resilience Evaluation Instrument and Software (FRAIT) developed by researchers from the College of South Wales (USW), to assist well being guests with choice making, care planning and planning for additional interventions and assets.
FRAIT has been included into the Welsh authorities’s ‘Wholesome Baby Wales Programme’ since 2016 and was made obligatory in 2017.
It’s utilized by greater than 1,000 well being guests throughout Wales, reaching greater than 1.8 million household contacts so far.
Dr Michelle Thomas, senior lecturer in grownup nursing and well being visiting at USW, mentioned: “Within the UK, well being guests are nurses or midwives that undertake a further yr of coaching. They work with households on illness and sickness prevention and well being promotion.
“They meet with households at obligatory time limits, from beginning to high school age, that are linked to kids’s key growth phases.
“FRAIT presents them standardised and sensible technique for figuring out households which will profit from early intervention. Its creation addressed a significant hole in evidence-based well being customer assessments.
“Well being guests are actually wanting ahead to utilizing eFRAIT. It creates a seamless digital file and enhances how we monitor and reply to household wants.”
eFRAIT simplifies the evaluation course of, embedding it inside digital techniques. Beforehand, assessments have been accomplished on paper, then scanned and uploaded into digital techniques, which is a time-consuming course of.
The platform has been developed by Dr Mabrouka Abuhmida, senior lecturer in computing and mathematical sciences, who labored carefully with USW’s FRAIT group to make sure the digital model replicates the unique paper instrument whereas assembly NHS requirements for compatibility and knowledge governance.
Rebecca Rees, well being visiting group chief at PTHB, mentioned: “When USW approached us to pilot eFRAIT, we noticed it as an thrilling alternative to be a part of this progressive journey and develop into the primary Well being Board in Wales to trial it.
“eFRAIT reduces paperwork by robotically calculating scores and importing on to the kid’s well being file. This not solely saves time but in addition cuts down on printing and confidential waste disposal.
She added: “FRAIT is about way more than types and knowledge. It’s about strengthening households, supporting practitioners, and bettering the well being and wellbeing of youngsters from the very begin.
“Going digital is simply the following step in making that imaginative and prescient extra accessible and efficient.”
A self-assessment model of FRAIT, which is designed for folks to finish themselves, can also be in pilot part. It helps them to replicate on their strengths and desires and may information well being guests to supply tailor-made assist or signpost to related providers.
In the meantime, in Could 2025, PTHB chosen Higher as its expertise companion to ship an digital prescribing and medicines administration system to assist streamline prescribing by changing the usage of paper.
