Patients across Greater London are to be given greater power to inform GPs, hospitals, ambulance crews, 111 providers, care homes, hospices and out of hours services, about their urgent and end of life care wishes, following the launch of a new online urgent care record called ‘myCMC’.
Coordinate My Care (CMC), an NHS clinical service, has helped tens of thousands of patients in London. For patients with a plan, which have been created by their clinician, everyone they meet along their health journey knows their diagnosis, how they wish to be managed and what to do in the middle of the night when their own doctors and nurses may not be available.
The new myCMC patient portal, launched by CMC, means that for the first time, patients can go online and easily initiate their own urgent care plans. Patients can specify the treatment they want, where and when they want it, should their condition deteriorate. They can detail their key contact information and document if they would like their organs donated.
Professor Julia Riley, clinical lead at Coordinate My Care, said: “Empowering patients to tell NHS and care providers the care they want to receive at a crucial point of their life is a priority. As care providers we have a responsibility to coordinate our services around patient wishes – especially when they are faced with difficult diagnoses that may require urgent or end of life care.
“CMC has already had a big impact for many patients, but there are many more who are still inappropriately sent to hospital when they do not want to be there, causing distress for patients and pressure on the system. MyCMC is accessible online and will allow many more patients, families and carers, to set up plans that can make a huge difference to their experience.”
CMC has already significantly reduced inappropriate and unnecessary hospital admissions. Importantly, less than one in five patients with a plan spend their last days in hospital, compared to almost 50% nationally, which, in addition to respecting patient wishes, is saving the NHS an average of £2,100 per patient.
More than 46,000 CMC plans have so far been created for patients. The launch of the new myCMC online care plan is expected to see significantly more plans created, whilst reducing burdens faced by healthcare professionals.
