George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust is to launch its patient portal, MyCare, next month.
The patient portal is currently in pilot for ENT, oral, and pain medical specialties at the trust, with the initial functionality to provide a view of a patient’s appointment letter and the option to choose to go paperless for future correspondence.
The trust noted that further functionality will be added to the portal in the future, including the ability to change or cancel appointments; view aspects of the health record, including all appointment and clinical letters, discharge summaries, results and prescriptions; and receive digital copies of other supporting information.
As well, plans for the portal include functionality to complete surveys, pre-admission assessments and contribute other information to support care planning; seek advice and guidance related to the trust and specific conditions, and viewing information relating to car parking or other trust services; and to share health records with others.
It’s anticipated all specialties will have access to the portal by the end of March 2024, and further functionality will be gradually added over the coming months and years.
Last year, HTN asked health tech leaders from across health and care to share their lessons learned and impact of patient portals, and as well we asked our audience: what do you think could improve the success of patient portals and patient-facing tech?
To explore patient portals in depth, we looked into a journal on the effectiveness of education through patient portals, with the authors noting “patient portals are becoming a powerful tool for patient education and engagement, and show promise as a means of achieving the quadruple aim of healthcare.”
