Kent and Medway ICS go live with Graphnet shared care record

The Integrated Care System in Kent and Medway has gone live with a shared care record powered by Graphnet.

The Kent and Medway Care Record (KMCR) was commissioned by a collaborative made up of NHS Kent and Medway CCG, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, Kent County Council and Medway Council. The aim is to provide health and care professionals with secure access to the health record of patients and bring together information from multiple health and care organisations.

With a wide range of data available at the point of care, patients will have a better experience when accessing care provisions and should see improved outcomes. Furthermore, those working within the healthcare sector will have the data they need to make informed decisions to enable safer, faster and better care.

The joined up approach will pull data from a growing number of settings, including four acute hospital trusts, three community-based providers, two mental health services, South East Ambulance Service, 198 GP practices, Kent County Council and Medway Council’s children’s and adults’ social care teams.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the KMCR project also includes a dedicated Covid-19 summary to show patients’ infection and vaccine status.

Dr Navin Kumta, clinical chair of Kent and Medway CCG said: “The KMCR is delivering a significant transformational change in Kent and Medway. As well as helping us improve front line care, the KMCR underpins our drive to integrate care across the system.”

The next phase for the project is the introduction of a patient portal to provide patients access to key information from their own care records. By doing so, local residents will have the ability to proactively manage their health, and engage with the various elements of their care.

Brian Waters, chief executive at Graphnet, added: “I’m delighted we could assist Kent and Medway with this major programme to join up services across the region’s care community. We are now looking forward to the second phase, bringing the care community the benefits of population health management and giving citizens across Kent and Medway access to their own records.”

This is the third system to go live with Graphnet’s CareCentric recently, following rapid deployments at Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.