Welsh boards share info via portal

Two health boards in Wales are sharing patient information across hospitals using the Welsh Clinical Portal.

In a four-month pilot, eight clinicians at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board have used the portal to view information about patients referred from Hywel Dda Health Board.

Dr Stephen Dorman, consultant cardiologist at Morriston Cardiac Centre, said the project has improved the speed with which they are able to view a patient’s details.

“The Welsh Clinical Portal cross border pilot has enabled us as clinicians to access vital test results on our patients in a much more timely fashion,” he said.

“In a tertiary care centre we often see patients who reside in other health boards and this facility has proved invaluable in planning and implementing their care.”

The Welsh Clinical Portal was developed by NHS Wales Informatics Service to provide clinicians with a ‘single view’ of information from the different systems in use in Welsh hospitals.

Previously, tests would have to be requested despite having already being undertaken at a different hospital. An NHSW Informatics Service update says the ability to immediately view test results from a different health board has taken away the need to re-order duplicate tests.

This meant that the seven cardiologists and one oncologists taking part in the pilot were able to view results before seeing a patient in the clinic.

An evaluation of the pilot found that if a patient is anaemic it can be dealt with before the cardiologist sees them, which removes a time-delaying step out of the process. Hospital transfer times also improved during the pilot.

Moving forward from the pilot, the next steps are to improve information governance and audit processes to allow wider cross-border use of the clinical portal.