The new electronic shared care IT system for residents of Derbyshire and Derby will go live in December, after many months of preparation by local NHS and social care organisations.
Known as the Derbyshire Shared Care Record (DSCR), it will join up different records, including GP, hospital and social care records, to create a more comprehensive and up-to-date record for citizens as patients and service users.
This will help improve joined-up care and avoid situations where individuals have to repeat the same details about their care to each professional they see. It will only be used for direct care.
Jim Austin, digital senior responsible officer for Joined Up Care Derbyshire, said: “It will mean that health and social care professionals working across Derby and Derbyshire’s NHS and local authority organisations will be able to access the same, appropriate information to support the care of individuals.
“This is completely confidential and secure. It’s designed to help doctors, nurses and other health and social care professionals directly involved in an individual’s care to make better, safer decisions.”
Health and social care organisations for Derby and Derbyshire are participating in the Derbyshire Shared Care Record, including: Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Chesterfield Royal Hospital, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, Derbyshire Healthcare, DHU Healthcare, Derbyshire Community Health Services, One Medical Group and primary care/GP services.
It means that appropriate information, such as details of serious allergies, referral letters and test results, will become available to professionals when holding a consultation with an individual about their care.
This helps professionals provide a better service, based on a fuller picture of a person’s health and care needs, rather than just the jigsaw pieces of information stored on their own organisation’s records.
It has taken nearly a year to lay the groundwork and set up the secure IT infrastructure for this tightly-controlled sharing of information to be possible within the NHS and social care network for Derby and Derbyshire.
Jim Austin added: “Residents locally will not have to do anything different and they won’t notice anything different, except that consultations should be more efficient without the need to go over old details multiple times. This is because professionals should have a more holistic record at their fingertips of the individuals in their care.”
Individuals are automatically opted-in to the shared care record, although there is an opt-out option by completing a form online. Jim Austin added: “We are confident that this is only going to enhance care for local citizens and we have taken our time setting this up to ensure it is right. Developing a shared care record for our local health and social care network is a national requirement and such shared care records are already working well in other parts of the country.”
IT solutions firm, Orion Health, was awarded the contract on behalf of the public sector partnership, Joined Up Care Derbyshire (JUCD), back in early 2021 to develop the system. Anyone with questions can check out the FAQs on the DSCR website.
Other benefits include:
- Professionals can work more effectively and efficiently if they can share relevant information among agencies providing support.
- Sharing records means health and social care workers have the most up-to-date information about their clients and patients.
- Service users won’t have to provide the same facts repeatedly.
- Patients won’t have any unnecessary clinical tests.
ENDS
