Mental health data from Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is now connected to the Great North Care Record.
The Health Information Exchange (HIE) allows authorised health and care staff to view patient information that is held in different clinical systems across the North East and North Cumbria. The platform makes information available to staff such as problems, diagnoses, procedures, medications, vital signs, lab results, scans and clinical correspondence.
Users of the HIE across the region will now be able to access a range of mental health data to support patient care, and users in Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear can also view information on the HIE.
Gill Sanderson, Head of Informatics, Customer Operations at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS FT said: “We are pleased to be able to provide access to the Health Information Exchange to our clinicians working across the trust. We have relied on being able to access GP records for the last few years through the Great North Care Record. Now that our frontline staff can access not only GP data but also from community services and Newcastle Hospitals means we can provide even safer care.”
The ‘Mental Health Reports’ are created on request and include historical data for service users. A range of datasets are included in the report, from patient details and demographics, allergies and adverse reactions, events timeline (last 100 events), risks and warnings, inpatient episodes, referrals, patient notes (last 20 notes), care plans (inpatient only), appointments, care programme approach (CPA) and mental health act status.
Professor Joe McDonald, Consultant Psychiatrist and Chief Clinical Information Officer at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS FT said: “I have been passionate about being able to access care records throughout my 30-year medical career, and so often frustrated by how hard it can be to share information. Being able to share data electronically from our mental health trust, and for my colleagues to access patient data from other providers is a complete game changer.”
Recently users in Newcastle City Council are now able to access a view of the HIE, Steve Foreman, Informatics Manager at the Council said: “Whilst it is early days and for limited purposes, it feels like a really significant step which we will hopefully be able to build on and quickly become an essential part of practice.”
The next phase of the project will see North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust go live to share crew reports onto the HIE.
