Health professionals at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT) will be taking a leading role within West Yorkshire by connecting to the Yorkshire and Humber Care Record (YHCR).
The YHCR is a secure computer system that safely brings together important information about patients who have used services provided by their GP, at a local hospital, community healthcare, social services, or mental health teams. In the long-term, having access to this information will improve the provision of care delivered to patients.
BTHFT, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary, St Luke’s Hospital, and local community hospitals at Eccleshill, Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Shipley, was selected by West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership (WY HCP) to manage a pilot scheme to securely share certain pieces of information amongst relevant health and social care providers. BTHFT has been working closely with ReStart Consulting, WY HCP Digital team and the YHCR team to support the implementation and investigate if the model could be replicated across the region.
As a result of this collaborative project BTHFT has delivered the following:
· The creation of ‘shared care records’ across primary, secondary and acute care, enabling clinical and care staff outside to access real-time health and care information across a range of providers and between different IT systems, securely and safely.
· Addition of a panel to allow radiology reports to be viewed from within the shared care record. BTHFT is the first trust to share this type of information.
· Greater understanding of people’s current health needs within communities, and how they are likely to change in the future.
· Providing a foundation to allow people to access and input information into their health and care record.
Paul Rice, Chief Information and Digital Officer at BTHFT, said: “The Trust has been engaged and invested in the ambitions of the Yorkshire and Humber Care Record from the beginning of its journey. At present, the NHS and Social Care has numerous silos of data. The patient is obliged to act as the bridge between them. Whilst we have joined these up across the Bradford District and Craven Place, this is not yet the case across the whole of West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and the Humber. The Care Record will provide a firm basis for further connectivity and innovation in the years to come.”
Dave Griffith, Informatics Programme Manager at BTHFT, added: “It’s been a fascinating project to manage and will be the basis of our own aspirations to utilise the YHCR more fully and will support our colleagues in their own journeys to provided information to help improve patient care. The wider team, which includes our Integration Partners, ReStart Consulting Limited, has worked extremely hard and remained focused in unusual times. We are all looking forward to seeing the benefits we’ve created to help clinical and care staff deliver even better care.”
By law, everyone working in, or on behalf of, the NHS and social care must follow strict information governance rules designed to respect patients’ privacy and keep all information about them safe. Information is held on secure, encrypted systems which keep a record of everyone who has accessed a record, the time and date when they accessed it and the information they were viewing. Data will only be stored in the UK.
“Being able to access data quickly, safely and securely will help boost efficiency and make chasing and requesting the same information from the patient a thing of the past. That means health and care colleagues will have more time to spend with the individual ultimately providing a better overall experience for both staff and patients.”
