Mental health data in Leeds Care Record

The medical records of patients at a mental health trust in Leeds are now available on the city’s shared electronic care record.

Data from Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is now available to view on the Leeds Care Record, an integrated health and social record that is accessible at the majority of GP practices in the city as well as in acute, mental health and community providers.

Currently the record contains details such as medications, allergies, test results and information related to referrals, clinic letters and discharges. This information is view only and is taken from existing medical records, such as a GP record or hospital record, that are linked using Healthcare Gateway’s Medical Interoperability Gateway.

The addition of from Leeds and York Partnership means that mental health information will now be available in the record, which is built upon and powered by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals' ppm+ platform.

Dr Nick Venters, consultant psychiatrist and chief clinical information officer at Leeds and York Partnership, said: “This will bring so many benefits to patients and clinicians alike. For patients it means they are more likely to receive the right care and undergo fewer unnecessary diagnostic tests and examinations.

“For clinicians, it means we can be confident we are getting a full and clear picture of a patient’s case history whenever and wherever we see them. This could be in hospital or in a community setting. This means we spend less time searching for the up to date information and more time seeing and treating people. It’s a win win.”

To make sure people consented to mental health information to be added to the record, local network Leeds Involving People asked the views of services users. This process found that the participants tended to be happy for aspects of their mental health information to be shared. Patients can also choose to opt out of the Leeds Care Record completely.

Speaking to Digital Health News in September, Dr Tony Shannon, director of Leeds Care record, said there were also plans to introduce additional information from community care and social care settings to the record.

“By the end of this calendar year we will have rolled out to the majority of the city and we will have information coming in from the majority of players from different parts of the NHS and social care in Leeds,” he said.