Patients in north-west Wales and south-west Wales will be the next to benefit from improved information sharing between GP practices and the local out-of-hours service, Informing Healthcare has announced.
The initiative has already proved successful in Gwent, where key health information for more than 400,000 patients is available to on-call medical staff when GP surgeries are closed.
Informing Healthcare is now working with health communities in Gwynedd, Anglesey, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion to introduce the ‘individual health record in out-of-hours care’.
It allows patient information held on GP practice computer systems to be viewed by on-call medical staff.
This improves the safety and quality of care outside surgery hours by ensuring the most appropriate treatment is given, based on knowledge of the patient’s medical history.
Dr Martin Murphy, Informing Healthcare’s clinical director, said: “Until now out-of-hours medical staff have not had access to patient’s health records, so they only know what the patient tells them. Yet, when a patient is unwell, it’s easy to forget important things about general health or current medications.”
The individual health record in out-of-hours care holds details of the individual’s medication, allergies, current problems and diagnoses. Its aim is to ensure the doctor on duty has vital information when it is needed most.
A survey of clinicians working in the Gwent out-of-hours service shows that more than 70% felt the individual health record helped them provide tailored advice to callers.
When dealing with older patients, or those with chronic conditions, this rose to 80%.
The project evaluation is showing that the individual health record is also helping out-of-hours GPs reduce the number of callers referred to accident and emergency departments or for hospital admission.
A nurse or doctor will ask patients for their consent on each occasion before they access the patient’s record.
The service is due to be available in north west and south west Wales by Spring 2008 and will bring the total number of patients covered by the individual health record to more than 800,000.
The local health boards for Gwynedd, Anglesey, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion all fully endorse the individual health record in out of hours care.
Roll-out to the rest of Wales will take place incrementally.
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Joe Fernandez