St Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Ireland, has launched a service user portal, an online platform that enables service users to access their own health-related information.
Using technology from Patients Know Best the portal will provide service users online access to record, share and view their own health information. Service users will have the choice to share their records with other healthcare providers or supporters who are involved in their care, such as family members, GP or carers.
The project forms part of the updated national mental healthcare strategy, Sharing the Vision, which sets out a greater usage of digital health interventions in its policy objectives.
Professor Paul Fearon, Medical Director said: “Involving service users in their recovery is crucial to positive clinical outcomes. Guided by a strong human rights framework, we are committed, as part of our strategy, to developing infrastructure that will empower service users to be involved in their care and treatment.”
“This new portal will transform how service users participate with, and use, our services, facilitating them to take an active role in their journey to recovery.”
Orla Gogarty, Director of Digital Health, said “Enabling service users to have access to their own health information in real time through enabling technology is transformational and empowering. Our key focus is the continuous development and integration of innovative, safe and reliable technologies which support our service users to access and engage in their treatment and recovery.”
“Our new portal will offer greater convenience to service users, and will ultimately enable us to pursue new technology approaches in this rapidly developing and exciting area of mental health treatment.”
The portal will be rolled out from this month, with the first phase to enable service users to view appointment details, receive messages from their care team, complete forms contributing to their care and treatment, and access links to other resources and websites providing helpful information.
Once the system is rolled out, users can see key information shared from their electronic health record by their team, such as diagnosis, medication prescribed during care and some test results. They will also be able to access additional assessments and forms, view informational videos and be able to monitor and track mood, sleep or eating patterns and similar, enabling service users to discuss these as required during their appointment with their clinician.
