“Improved patient experience and continuity of care can only be delivered through timely, appropriate and relevant access to patient records.”

Scoping work for a Summary Care Record (SCR) access expansion pilot has begun. The work is led by NECS on behalf of the PCC and NENC ICB. It is looking at the potential benefits and barriers to pharmacy (where some SCR access is already allowed), optometry, and dentistry, (known collectively as POD) gaining view only access to the system.

Neville Flanagan, Head of the NECS’s North East Consultancy Team, is leading the work. The project arose following a PCC priority workshop in May, when a need to explore possibilities around SCR access was communicated clearly as an important area, and one where there is potential for improvements both to patient care and service efficiency.

Interviews have been held with key stakeholders, building understanding of how SCR access might meet POD providers’ needs and, importantly, also deliver benefits to general practice. Neville said:

“The objective here was to assist the PCC and the ICB to make data-driven decisions that will enhance healthcare coordination and outcomes. As well as positives, we were also looking to gather insight on potential concerns that expanding SCR access might provoke, for example in connection to information governance, and therefore potential barriers to success.”

Following a meeting with NHS England, the team set out to identify ways SCR access could help solve specific issues faced by the three clinician groups:

  • For pharmacy, the issues were a limited access to timely, appropriate, and relevant information, leading to a hindered ability to provide accurate and timely care.
  • For optometry, the issue was limited access to crucial patient information like medication lists, past ophthalmology letters, and details on chronic conditions, which sometimes led to time-consuming processes, potential patient safety risks, and unnecessary referrals.
  • For dentistry, the impacts highlighted included fragmented care, repeated diagnostics, and inefficiencies in managing medications.

Medication lists, letters, medical conditions, and allergies were identified as four key areas where better access to patient information could make a significant impact.  

Fiona Adamson, Co-Chair of the PCC, said: “This was an area where everyone around the table felt a difference could be made to patient care, if our colleagues in optometry and dentistry in particular were able to follow pharmacy in having access to patient information, in the right circumstances. The benefit for the patient and the POD clinicians is clear, but this could also be good news for GP practices, which can sometimes feel they’re being used as a signposting, referrals, and correspondence service for primary care more widely.”

Outcomes and next steps

So far, the work has identified two potential digital solutions that could be used to take the SCR to POD clinicians. The Great North Care Record and the National Summary Care Record (NSCR), which pharmacists and out-of-hours GPs already can access, are both possible answers.

A recommendations has been made that pilots should be run in five dentist practices and five optometrists early next year, to gauge more accurately how access would impact patient experience and outcomes, as well as how it would change clinicians’ day-to-day lives. Additionally, a recommendation has been put forward that access should be expanded to more dentists and optometrists to the NSCR in the next financial year.

Dr Jane Baxter, Cumbria LMC,was one of the people interviewed as part of the engagement sessions underpinning this work. Speaking during the engagement process, she said:  “Improved patient experience and continuity of care can only be delivered through timely, appropriate and relevant access to patient records.”

The PCC will keep you informed on the outcome of this pilot as work progresses. However, if you’ve any questions, please email chloe.corkhill1@nhs.net.

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