Occupational Therapist Assistant (OTA) Jeremy Streets believes that the Dorset Care Record will provide real support for people with disabilities.
Jeremy, who currently works for Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) in the Boscombe/Southbourne area, leads on registering people with disabilities.
He says that in the past registering someone who was disabled was often time-consuming: “I’d ask the GP for information about the person and they’d say they couldn’t deal with that issue over the phone and ask for an email.
“I’d then send the email and wouldn’t hear anything back so we’d have to chase. To be able to look at this information on the DCR is a great improvement.”
Jeremy, who has been an OTA for 20 years, believes the DCR will enable OT’s to have a greater understanding of their patients’ medical history.
“People come to us often with vague references about some spinal problems or a memory issue or a bit of a heart condition. We can now – through seeing the medical records of their conditions – have a better understanding of what is in front of us.”
Although OT’s generally don’t need to know the type of medications patients are taking, the DCR can help in some circumstances.
“For example, if there is someone on a specific medication – for example a blood thinning medication, such as warfarin – it would be useful for us to know that.”
Jeremy says the DCR provides him with an enhanced knowledge of the person he is seeing ahead of meetings, adding that he has yet to come across anyone who is concerned about sharing records between health and social care professionals.
He has used the DCR between 40 and 50 times so far, and with the current movement restrictions and the greater reliance on video meetings and phone calls, he believes the digital element of the DCR is particularly important for both him and his colleagues.
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