The Capacity Tracker is an award-winning web-based system. It enables residential aged care facilities (RACFs) and GPs to share their business continuity information in real-time and allows Commissioners to quickly offer targeted support when it is required. The system has already demonstrated real value in the response to Covid-19 across the UK and Australia.

Our Primary Health Network Customer Reference Group is now exploring with us how to leverage the Capacity Tracker to add more features and capture more real time data and insight in other sectors, including mental health, in fact anywhere where it’s important for multiple users to have real-time permission based access to a ‘single source of truth’.

Proven Success in the UK

Built by North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) in partnership with NHS England, the application connects together Commissioners and Providers to provide a ‘single version of the truth’.

The Capacity Tracker is mandated for use in every aged care facility across the UK. It is used by over 15,000 aged care providers, 190 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and 148 Local Authorities are registered and using the application resulting in over 99% coverage.

It has proven to be a vital application in the response to Covid-19. The Capacity Tracker also offers longer-term benefits which improve patient flow as well as building resilience and governance into a health system.

Proven Success in Australia

After successfully launching in Australia, it has been used by Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC PHN) since May 2020.

It has supported RACFs and GPs across HNECC PHN throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Within the first four months of use, HNECC PHN registration figures were impressive with over 70% of RACFs and over 50% of their GPs registered and using the system. For HNECC PHN, the Capacity Tracker is a vital business continuity application which provides real-time information about Covid cases, staffing levels, PPE supplies and up-to-date residential aged care bed availability. The system’s functionality also offers powerful reporting including the use of visual mapping which gives even greater insight for PHNs.

“I am grateful for Capacity Tracker as an ‘extra set of eyes’ over the practices, so nothing gets delayed or missed – especially while we are managing such a large workload on the Coast! I’m getting great feedback from practices about how easy it is to update, and they really like the resources section too.” – Primary Care Improvement Officer at HNECC

By linking RACFs and GPs, the application can also offer an effective response in other, non-Covid, emergency situations such as bushfires or cyclones. A PHN can quickly find alternative accommodation for patients if a RACF has to close suddenly.

Secure and Simple

The Capacity Tracker is built as a cloud-based system so it is fast and secure and doesn’t require software to be uploaded onto computers. It has been developed to take advantage of Microsoft Azure. Hosted within Australia, encrypted data is also backed-up and stored within Australia.

The system’s security individually separates PHNs from each other within the application. Each PHN is responsible for managing their user permissions and access requests. Usage can also be tailored to individual user requirements and ensures that sensitive information can only be seen by those who need access to it.