Isle of Wight says ‘alwight’ to shared care records

Information for patients at Isle of Wight NHS Trust and 16 GP surgeries on the island has gone live on one of the longest-established regional shared care records systems.

The Care and Health Information Exchange (CHIE), which was formerly known as the Hampshire Health Record, was established in 2003. Earlier this month, 140,000 residents on the Isle of Wight had their own shared records created.

Staff at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust and 16 local GP surgeries are now able to access the shared record from within their own patient management systems.

Using single sign-on, trust staff can look up local GP records at the touch of a button, plus any healthcare information about a patient that has been generated off the island at mainland trusts.

For patients this means they do not have to repeat their care story to each care provider and their GP has access to their integrated care record which also shows blood tests already carried out at hospital – reducing the need for patients to repeat tests.

Dr Michele Legg, chair and clinical lead of the NHS Isle of Wight CCG, said: “Joining the CHIE is a major move forward for the Isle of Wight and Hampshire. An integrated, unified, single view of clinical data will help care professional provide safer and faster care for the 140,000 residents across the island.”

Supported by the South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (CSU), Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have also put in place plans to develop the shared record by adding more features.

This includes giving patient’s access to the record and support for patient held apps.

Since CHIE launched 15 years ago, more than 87 million documents have been shared between doctors, nurses, social workers and pharmacists in Hampshire.

Recent figures show CHIE is used over 90,000 times a month by health and social care professionals, providing them with better health information on around two million patients.

The record is powered by Graphnet’s CareCentric software. The company has been the vendor for the record since it began.

Beverley Bryant, chief operating officer at the System C and Graphnet Care Alliance, said: “Our 15 years’ experience with Hampshire has been fundamental to developing our understanding of shared care records and how they are used. We are delighted that this programme continues to move forward apace.”

Shared medical records are being promoted by NHS England as it prepares to select the five Local Health and Care Record Exemplars (LHCRE), which will join up regional health and care records.

NHS England sent out invites for healthcare organisations to bid for LHCRE approval in March, with successful applicants having the chance to receive up to £7.5m national investment.