A GP has made a video to encourage patients in his practice to access their electronic records over the internet.
Dr Amir Hannan, a GP in Hyde, Cheshire, and a pioneer of patient record access, made the video for the waiting room in his surgery but it is also available online on the records access website run by the International Council on Medical Care Compunetics.
In the 16 minute tape Dr Hannan explains how he believes records access can help patients to get the best from the services the practice is offering, gain a better understanding of their own health and improve the care they receive. The video also explains the practicalities of how record access works.
He told EHI Primary Care: “We had been running Powerpoint slides on a plasma TV screen in the waiting room for some time but over Christmas I decided to make a video and change direction by focusing it on what the patients are interested in rather than talking about the functionality.”
Dr Hannan said placing the video online also meant patients were able to learn about records access from home when they might be in a better position to focus on the issues rather than while sitting in the waiting room at the practice.
Dr Hannan says he is one of 39 EMIS practices currently offering records access to patients and now has around 320 to 330 patients from his 12,000 patient practice accessing their records over the internet.
He added: “The numbers are not huge but I would argue that I am working in one of the most difficult times at the moment with huge worries about personal data and things getting lost although I haven’t had a single patient come back to me and want to stop using the service.”
Some of Dr Hannan’s patients who are accessing their records have recorded their experience of the service on a blog www.patientra.co.uk and Dr Hannan says he sees the difference record access has made in his own consulting room.
He added: “What I am experiencing from patients who are accessing their records in this practice is a much higher level of understanding about their health, how they can improve it and what is available.”
Links
International Council on Medical Care Compunetics – Records Access
Fiona Barr