The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Care and Health Information Exchange (CHIE) has completed its transition to Orion Health six months later than planned.

The shared care records were officially moved over to Orion Health in March, leading to a reported usage increase of 130,000 patient records viewed in June.

The CHIE was due to go live with Orion Health in September 2020, but an email sent to staff on September 9 confirmed the go live had been “unfortunately delayed”.

In August 2019 CHIE announced it was switching from Graphnet’s CareCentric software, which had powered shared record system since it began in 2003, to Orion Health.

Now, the programme is looking to extend the shared records to new settings, starting with care homes, in a bid to increase the depth of data shared with users to help them bake more informed decision about patient care.

Ben Panton, programme manager at South Central and Wes, which supports CHIE on behalf of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS), said: “From the project management and the technology side we were pleased to see the final feeds move over, and all our users on the new system.

“But the work doesn’t stop there. We are now planning an iterative process to improve the product, to bring in more data, and to increase the number of users.

“We are also planning to work closely with the Dorset Care Record, which uses Orion Health, as part of our Wessex Care Record partnership introducing interoperability between the two systems, so that clinical and care professionals in Dorset have access to CHIE and vice-versa.”

Panton added that the move supports NHSX’s requirement for every area in England to have a ‘minimum viable solution’ shared care record in place by September.

Gary Birks, general manager at Orion Health, added: “CHIE is a recognised leader in shared care records in England and many areas will be looking to its progress with interest, as they look to develop their own shared care record solutions.

“Working in partnership with CHIE and its stakeholders, we are looking forward to realising further benefits for care professionals, patients and users.”

CHIE launched 17 years ago, and since then millions of documents have been shared between doctors, nurses, social workers and pharmacists in Hampshire.

The shared record system forms part of the Wessex Local Health and Care Record Exemplar (LHCRE), along with Dorset Care Record.

In May 2018, Isle of Wight NHS Trust and 16 GP surgeries on the island joined the CHIE, which was formerly known as the Hampshire Health Record.