Birmingham trusts launch InterSystems shared patient portal

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) and Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) have launched a shared patient portal.

The portal is powered by InterSystems Personal Community and enables patients to securely access selected health information held across both organisations through a single digital service.

It is integrated with the existing shared care record used across the Birmingham and Solihull health and care system and provides patients receiving care from both trusts with a single view of key information across mental health and community services.

James Reed, chief clinical information officer at BSMHFT, said: “Giving patients better access to their information is an important part of making care more transparent and easier to navigate.

“For people receiving care from both mental health and community services, being able to see information in one place is a real advantage.”

Patients access the portal using NHS Login, allowing those with an existing NHS digital identity to sign in without creating separate credentials. To date, the portal has recorded 30,134 patient registrations across the two trusts.

Over the past three months, the portal has averaged around 30 new enrolments each day, although targeted email campaigns prompted significant spikes in adoption, including 14,000 registrations in a single day in February and a further 4,500 in one day during March of this year.

The portal has been developed by building on infrastructure already used by clinicians across the local health and care system.

By using the shared care record as its foundation, the trusts have been able to make selected information available directly to patients without creating duplicate integrations or additional data flows.

Patients can currently view appointment information, selected clinical letters, care plan documents, outpatient medication information from the mental health trust and ECG information where available.

Future developments may include patient questionnaires, patient-reported outcome and experience measures, laboratory results, digital ReSPECT forms, Mental Health Act letters and wider patient involvement in care planning.

Colin Henderson, country manager, UK and Ireland at InterSystems, said: “By building on the existing shared care record foundation and enabling access through NHS Login, the trusts have taken a practical step forward in improving patient experience through visibility of information associated with their care.

“The uptake is compelling, and we look forward to partnering with the trusts to further enhance this service.”