Work is underway to expand the London Care Record with the aim of supporting health and care staff in neighbouring areas with visibility of relevant information when people from outside London are referred for treatment and care in the capital.
Records from Oxford University Hospitals and providers in Bedfordshire, Luton, Suffolk and North East Essex are currently being linked to the London Care Record, with connections already in place for Hertfordshire and West Essex ICS and Milton Keynes University Hospital, where staff are said to have “used the London Care Record around 65,000 times in total during August alone”.
Mark Thomas, the ICS’s chief digital and information officer, states: “Many residents access care outside of our boundaries and so we’re delighted that Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICS is building on learning from Milton Keynes and joining the whole system up to the London Care Record. This will give health and care staff working in all our communities access to the information they need about a patient to concentrate on caring for the person. We have a proven track record of using digital technology to improve experience in BLMK and we’re excited by this new service.”
OneLondon’s senior programme manager Sally Wiltshire adds: “As the location of a large number of centres of excellence and specialist referral centres, we know that large number of people travel into the Capital to receive treatment and care. Ensuring that their GPs and other staff involved in their care in their local area can see information from London and have a joined up picture of their whole care pathway is really important.”
In other news from Greater London, South West London integrated care board has shared how a digital system is being used at a practice in Kingston to triage patients.
Last month, we spoke with Channel 3 Consulting on the benefits, challenges, the opportunities and the role of Shared Care Records in transforming services, as well as covering where Shared Care Records are going, the key areas for improvement, funding and distribution.
