Category: Uncategorized

6 November 2017

For the past year and a half, clinical staff at Whanganui Hospital have been able to view a summary of the health information held by a patient’s GP, through a Shared Care Record. This has meant that the doctors treating a patient are better placed to make safe and sound clinical decisions, based on knowledge of a patient’s known allergies and health conditions, as well as their current medication.

Online access to the Shared Care Record allows health providers to safely and easily obtain a summary of patient information through a secure connection. Your information is protected, as the security is similar to internet banking. Information can only be accessed by authorised health professionals and access is audited to maintain confidentiality.

Whanganui Regional Health Network (WRHN) has been leading the implementation of the Shared Care Record in the Whanganui region and has recently reached an agreement with MidCentral DHB to form a joint Shared Care Record. With both health districts being geographic neighbours, there are many instances when patients receive care across the invisible health boundary.

“If any patients from Whanganui regional practices need to attend the Emergency Department or afterhours clinics in Palmerston North, those services will have access to the patient’s General Practice information and this will be a huge support with diagnosis and treatment,” says Whanganui Regional Health Network Clinical Director and Bulls Medical Centre GP Dr Ken Young.

“Consumers are increasingly mobile and expect that they will receive the same level of high quality healthcare regardless of wherever they are seen. If a patient is being treated for a significant trauma in the Emergency Department, they might not be able to provide critical health information. Already stressed relatives might find it difficult or impossible to pass on this information. With the Shared Care Record, that stress is removed.” Dr Young says.

While this is a new development between our regions, some other areas like Capital & Coast, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa are already successfully operating a joint Shared Care Record. All eleven General Practices under WRHN have implemented a Shared Care Record, which means over 57,000 enrolled patients in our district are participating.

If patients do not want their health information shared in this way, they can opt out at any time by calling the free phone 0800 727 664. More information is available from the Shared Care Record website www.sharedcarerecord.org.nz or by contacting the project leader, Karen Veldhoen at Whanganui Regional Health Network on (06) 348 0109.

For further comment please contact WRHN Communications Coordinator Karen Veldhoen
on (06) 348 0109 extn 708

25 November 2016

The electronic Shared Care Record allows authorised health professionals such as After Hours Medical Centres and Hospital Emergency Department doctors involved in your care within the Capital and Coast, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa Regions to access a summary of your health information. From 1 December 2016, approved health care providers will be able to access your health information to assist in your health care regardless of which of the three regions you are in when you require health care assistance.

For more information about who has access to your Shared Care Record see My Record 

20 April 2016

You may be interested in learning of another information sharing system which is now available in the Wellington, Wairarapa and Hutt Valley regions.

There has been a recent change in laboratory provider in the Wellington, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa regions, with Wellington SCL now managing all laboratory services across the districts.

As part of this change the Capital & Coast, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa DHB’s required the new provider to establish a Clinical Data Repository (CDR) where all laboratory results are automatically placed. This means that your test results from Wellington SCL may be available to healthcare providers from the Hutt Valley District Health Board, Capital & Coast District Health Board and some community providers (such as GPs, private specialists and midwives)

If you do not wish for other health providers to have access to your Laboratory Record, you can opt-out by phoning 04 381 5975.

Click here to visit the Wellington SCL website to find out more.

01 December 2015

From December 2015, authorised Whanganui Accident & Medical clinical staff will be able to view a summary of the health information held by a patient’s GP. Whanganui DHB Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Rawlinson says that within the next six months the Whanganui Hospital will also be able to access this same information.

“Having access to additional patient records will help improve the whole system. It makes information sharing and subsequent care more timely, safe and efficient,” Dr Rawlinson says.

“Health providers often need to share information about patients. Traditionally we’ve done this on paper or by phone, but paper is too slow, and colleagues may not be available to talk in the middle of the night. Online 24-hour access to on-screen summaries from General Practice will be a great improvement in clinical safety.”

“This is just the start of electronic sharing between primary and secondary services, and the hope is that it will only broaden in the future.”

The new online access to the Shared Care Record means health providers can safely and easily obtain a summary of patient information through a secure connection. Your information is completely protected, as the security is similar to internet banking. Information can only be accessed by authorised health professionals and access is audited to maintain confidentiality.

Whanganui Regional Health Network Clinical Director and Bulls Medical Centre GP Dr Ken Young says the Shared Care Record will be beneficial to both patients and health professionals; and additionally supportive to regional patients, as health information will also be available at MidCentral after-hours clinics.

“If any patients from Whanganui regional practices need to attend after-hours in Palmerston North, that centre will have access to the patient’s General Practice information and this will be a huge support with diagnosis and treatment,” Dr Young says.

The software being utilised is a New Zealand built product called ManageMyHealth™ and has been used in other parts of the country, including the Wellington region for several years. It enables authorised health providers to easily access a summary of patient information through a secure web-browser connection. The clinical information available includes the patients’ prescribed medications, allergies, test results and diagnoses.

“It’s important to know that individual patients can ‘opt out’ if they do not want the selected information of their primary care health record shared with hospital staff, through the Shared Care Record process,” Dr Young says.

“If patients do not want their health information shared in this way they can tell their general practice, write to a freepost address or free phone 0800 SCR MMH or 0800 727 664. However, taking part in this has real benefits in terms of their care, as the new system will provide doctors and nurses with better information in settings where patients haven’t planned on presenting, such as at Emergency Departments or as casual patients in other General Practices.”

The Shared Care Record roll-out is being led by the Whanganui Regional Health Network and will be launched in the Whanganui region before the end of December 2015. So far ten General Practices have implemented a Shared Care Record, which makes up approximately 87 percent of all patients enrolled with a Whanganui practice.

01 September 2015

In September 2015 three major improvements are being made to the Shared Care Record which will enable better care for more patients and will allow more transparent information to be available to patients about the Shared Record.

The first improvement will see 21,276 more patients with a Shared Care Record, as seven new practices join the programme in the second wave of involvement. The addition of these practices to the programme means that 82% of people living in the Wellington, Kapiti, Porirua and Hutt Valley districts and 78% of people living in the Manawatu, Horowhenua region will now have a Shared Care Record.

The second improvement will enable paramedics from Wellington Free Ambulance to access the Wellington and Hutt Valley record for urgent community care. This will allow Wellington Free Ambulance to improve the quality of complex care they provide to patients in the community by having relevant health information available to support clinical decisions.

The third improvement will allow information about the Shared Care Record to reach more people who need to know about how their health information is shared. The website will allow the team to articulate clear and transparent information about the record to the public across the different regions. The website includes the basic information about the project including: What information is shared, who is the information shared with and how you can opt out of sharing health information. The website will also allow media items, audit results and governance decisions to be added to the news section and shared easily using the new Shared Care Record (SCR) domain names.

All of these improvements will be implemented over the month of September 2015.

The practices joining the programme are; Linden Surgery and Plimmerton Medical Centre in Porirua, Raumati Road Surgery and Grace Surgery in Kapiti, Main Street Surgery and Fitzherbert Road Medical Centre in the Hutt Valley and Victoria Medical in Palmerston North.

23 April 2015

From April 2015, authorised Hutt Hospital clinical staff will be able to view a summary of the health information held by their patient’s GP.

The new online access to the Shared Care Record means health providers can safely and easily access a summary of patient information through a secure connection. Information can only be accessed by authorised health professionals and access is audited to maintain confidentiality.

“The Shared Care Record will be a huge benefit to both patients and health professionals,” says Dr Sisira Jayathissa, acting Chief Medical Officer for Hutt Valley and Wairarapa District Health Boards.

Hutt Hospital’s Clinical Head of Emergency Department, Dr Richard Makower is also positive about the benefits of the new system. 

“Health providers often need to share information about patients. Traditionally we’ve done this on paper or by phone, but paper is too slow, and colleagues may not be available to talk in the middle of the night.”

Online 24 hour access to on-screen summaries from General Practice will be a huge improvement in clinical safety.

“For example, if an elderly patient suddenly goes into hospital, the hospital doctors can get a more complete view of that person’s general practice records quickly and without interrupting the GP. The ability to electronically share information will help improve the whole system. It makes information sharing and subsequent care more timely, safe and efficient,” says Dr Makower.

The software being used is a New Zealand-built product called ManageMyHealth™, and has been used in other parts of the country, including the Wairarapa for several years. It enables authorised health providers to easily access a summary of patient information through a secure web-browser connection. The clinical information available includes the patients’ medication details and their diagnoses.

“It’s important to know that individual patients can “opt out” if they do not want the selected information of their primary care health record shared with hospital staff through the Shared Care Record process,” Dr Jayathissa says. “If patients do not want their health information shared in this way they can tell their general practice, write to a free-post address or free-phone 0800 SCR MMH or 0800 727 664. However, taking part in this has real benefits in terms of their care.”

The new system will provide doctors and nurses with better information in settings where patients haven’t  planned on presenting, such as emergency departments.

The system is being launched across the Hutt Valley from April 2015, with the support of General Practices in the Hutt Valley and the Primary Health Organisation, Te Awakairangi Health Network. The system has been available in the Capital and Coast region since April 2014.

19 Hutt Valley practices have implemented a Shared Care Record, which makes up 81 per cent of all Hutt Valley DHB patients.

09 September 2014

The Shared Care Record is growing. It is currently in place for adult patients from Masterton Medical, Whaiora, Carterton Medical Centre, Martinborough Health Centre, Featherston Medical Centre and Greytown Medical Centre.

From 1 October, children and young people under 18 will also have their GP information available on the Shared Care Record.

Children were originally excluded from the Shared Care Record as there were concerns about patients in unsafe situations at home being coerced into revealing their access to their patient portal record. The software has now changed and ManageMyHealth now differentiates between the Shared Care Record and the patient portal, meaning children can have a Shared Care Record without having to have a Patient Portal.

This has alleviated the need for this rule in the MidCentral and Capital & Coast implementation and will now be employed in the Wairarapa to standardise the 3 DHBs records.

From 1 October, the Shared Care Record will also include lab results and discharge summaries. This will be available to all Shared Care Record users in general practice and afterhours but will not be available to the Emergency department, Hospital or Community Pharmacy.

We will be informing patients of these changes in the local newspapers over the next month and will be reiterating the fact that all patients can opt out of the SCR at any time.  Parents are entitled to opt out their children (under 18) but the SCR Administrator may phone their enrolled practice to confirm the relationship before confirming the opt out.

If patients do not wish any other health providers to have access to their Shared Care Record, they can opt-out by calling us on 0800 727 664 or sending a letter to the freepost address below:

Freepost Authority Shared Care Record
PO Box 27380,
Marion Square,
Wellington 6141. (No stamp required)

04 April 2014

From 7 April 2014, health record summaries from General Practices will be immediately available to hospital clinicians and afterhours GPs, as a new system for accessing primary care health records online is launched in Wellington, Porirua and the Kapiti Coast.

The Shared Care Record enables health providers to safely and easily access a summary record of patient information through a secure connection via ManageMyHealth™. Information can only be accessed by authorised health professionals and is kept safe and confidential.

“The Shared Care Record will be a huge benefit to both patients and health professionals,” says Capital and Coast DHB Chief Executive Debbie Chin. “It’s a big step forward for the region and means that when Capital and Coast patients are unwell, an up-to-date summary of their health history will be available to the hospital clinical staff that are treating them.”

Wellington GP Richard Medlicott is equally positive about the benefits for patients of the new system. “Often health providers need to have access to shared information about patients,” he says. “For example, if an elderly patient suddenly goes into hospital at night, the hospital doctors can get a more complete view of that person’s general practice records and easily see what medication they are taking and if there are any recent test results, so having access makes it much quicker and easier to treat someone.”

Capital and Coast’s Clinical Director for Corporate & Clinical Support Services, Peter Hicks, says while clinical information is already shared using paper systems, it is not always available when it is most useful. “With the Shared Care Record hospital clinicians will be able to see a patient’s information through a link in the individual patient’s on-screen record. The clinical information available will make a real difference to the quality and safety of the care delivered.”

For any patients who do not want their health information shared in this way they can free phone 0800 727 664, write to a free-post address or tell their general practice they want to “opt out”. “However, people need to know that taking part in this shared system has real benefits in terms of their care and will provide doctors and nurses with better information in settings where patients haven’t planned on presenting, such as emergency departments,” says Richard Medlicott.

Capital and Coast and the Primary Health Organisations, including Compass Health, Well Health, Ora Toa Health Services and Cosine Primary Care Network, see the Shared Care Record as a significant improvement for patient care.

12 August 2013

Patients at Greytown and Featherston Medical Centres can now reap the benefits of the regional Shared Care Record project. This means that if they arrive in the Wairarapa Hospital Emergency department or need to seek out of hours medical services at another practice, the clinicians can see a summary of their GP medical notes.  This reduces risk for patients and helps clinicians to treat patients faster and more confidently.

95% of patients in the Wairarapa now have a ‘shared care record’.  Carterton, Whaiora, Martinborough and Masterton Medical Centres have been taking part in this project since it was launched in 2011.  Both patients and clinicians report benefits in having health information available in after hours or hospital health care settings.  Registered Community Pharmacists have recently been given access to the system, as a further quality and safety measure when discussing and dispensing medicines.

‘We are really pleased to see two more general practices joining the Shared Care Record project along with the recent inclusion of Community Pharmacy,” says Chris Kerr, Clinical Director for Compass Health. “This increased participation provides more opportunities for health professionals to provide highly co-ordinated care for all patients. We are often getting feedback that patients are being treated more quickly because of the easy access by their doctors and nurses to this information.”

Only registered health professionals have access to the Shared Care Record and only for the purpose of caring for a patient.  Patients at participating practices can choose ‘opt out’ of the project at any time.  If anyone would like more information about this project or they would like to opt out of having a shared record they can phone 0800 727 664.

20 June 2013

Pharmacists working in the community will soon be able to access vital parts of patient shared health records from general practice. The aim of this project is to help health professionals collaborate more efficiently around patient health information providing better, sooner and more convenient services to them. The project has already seen multiple benefits for patients in hospital services in the Wairarapa.

Giving community pharmacists access to the shared care record will enable them to make use of information on patient’s medications, long term conditions and allergies. This information is traditionally stored in general practice.  Pharmacists will be able to view a complete picture of a patient’s medication requirements and history, simply and quickly while the patient is being served. Patients, particularly those on numerous or complex medications may find it faster to get their medications from pharmacies with the new system.

“The addition of community pharmacy to the health care professionals accessing the Shared Care Record is a great example of how pharmacists can be integrated into the primary care team,” says Chris Kerr the Clinical Director for Compass Health. 

Health professionals, who have helped drive this change, have praised the benefits of the new on-line information. ED doctors have found it invaluable when treating patients who are too sick or injured to give details of their allergies or current medications; GPs have found it saves time and decreases the number of repeat visits for patients being seen in, or transferring to another practice.

“The most useful information we need to share is about allergies, chronic medical conditions, and long term medications.”, says Dr Hooper, “There are many circumstances when a person can’t tell us that, or not in a timely way. I really support this as a way of reducing risk for patients, and improving the quality of the care we can provide.”

Within a community pharmacy only registered Pharmacists will have access to the Shared Care Record and only for the purpose of directly caring for a patient. Patients with wider concerns about their record being shared can ‘opt out’ of the having a record at any time.  If anyone would like more information about this project or they would like to opt out of having a shared record they can phone 0800 727 664.