Over the next month, community and mental health records from Dorset HealthCare University NHS Trust (DHC) are being fed into the Dorset Care Record (DCR).
Demographic information, which includes the name, date of birth, address, next of kin, NHS number and ethnicity of Dorset’s residents and inpatient and outpatient (attendance) details held by Dorset HealthCare are the first records to go live.
The Dorset HealthCare information will show details of practitioners and appointments so that health and social care professionals across Dorset can support their clients with an understanding of their mental health needs.
Having all the information in one electronic place will be really beneficial as many people don’t want to go into depth about their own mental health. It will also be useful in the establishment of care plans.
Peter Gill, Dorset Care Record Senior Responsible Officer and Director of Informatics at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals, said: “This is a really important first step in terms of having mental health feeds available to health and social care professionals across the Partnership. We look forward to having more mental health records added later this summer.”
The move will mean that all our partners, which include Dorset’s three acute hospitals, two local authorities, GP practices and Dorset HealthCare are now providing feeds into the DCR. These feeds include pathology and radiology results, referrals, GP summary records, allergies and discharge medications information.
The electronic system has been growing rapidly over the past six months. In June, nearly 11,500 records were accessed by health and social care professionals and we now have up to 1,600 fully trained professionals logging in to see patients directly involved in their care.
Among some of the latest developments has been the granting of DCR access to the county’s 150 community pharmacists, enabling them, for example, to see the latest discharge medications from hospitals.
Yeovil District Hospital has also been given access to the DCR from earlier this year. Up to 40 per cent of all Yeovil’s patients come from north Dorset and the Covid-19 pandemic meant it was vital for front-line staff to have accurate records available electronically.
The rise in records accessed is also due to the establishment of Single Sign On among our partners , enabling staff to go straight from their own system to the DCR without having to remember a separate username and password.
If anybody would like copies of leaflets or an online speaker at their meetings to talk about the DCR please contact Tony McDougal, Communications and Engagement Officer, (Tel: 01305224831) or email him at tony.mcdougal@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
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