Wales Open Eyes to virtual referrals

The NHS in Wales will use the Open Eyes electronic patient record system to reduce referrals and promote “seamless eyecare” across the country.

The NHS Wales Informatics Service and the Wales Eye Health Care Steering Group have been awarded £1m for two projects to improve eye care services as part of the Welsh Government’s £9.5m Health Technologies and Telehealth Fund.

One of the projects relates to the Open Eyes open source EPR, developed by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and the other will be for a technology refresh at optometry practices.

James Morgan, director of clinical information for Open Eyes and professor of ophthalmology at Cardiff University, said the funding was part of a move towards “seamless eyecare” linking primary and secondary care.

The funding will be used for a secure web-based interface allowing optometrists to make virtual referrals for patients.

The referral will then go into a virtual clinic to be reviewed by a clinician, who will either accept it or refer it back to primary care.

Morgan said the system will help to avoid unnecessary referrals, with up to 30% of glaucoma referrals falling into that category, while also improving the quality of data for eyecare patients.

“It will provide us with a very granular data trail for the patient, and a summary is then sent to the GP so they’re made aware of what’s going on.

“We need to move away from the divisions between primary and secondary care: a patient might be discharged from a clinic, but we want the data collected to still be populated in the system.”

Morgan said the first year of the project will focus on development, design and build, with a number of pilot sites to be selected.

The technology refresh section of the funding will go towards connecting all optometrists in Wales to the NHS through the national communications service, he said.

The Welsh Government launched the fund last December, saying it wanted to support the introduction of new technologies in non-hospital settings.

Core infrastructure projects were awarded £3.9m in funding, while nearly £2.9m went towards telemedicine and investment in remote devices.  £2.3m were given to projects aimed at connecting primary care, such as e-referrals, discharge and data sharing, and £500,000 is aimed at delivering post-op care without patients needing to visit hospital.

Health Minister Mark Drakeford said: “Technology plays a key role in achieving the best outcomes for patients and reduces the need for patients to have to travel to hospital for their care.

“This new round of £9.5m of funding will cover four key areas and shows the Welsh Government’s ongoing commitment to improving health and delivering first class health services in Wales.”

The grants are part of the Health Technology Fund, a three-year, £25m funding package launched in January 2013.