Having blood test results and clinical correspondence in one place at a touch of a button is helping boost patient care for Poole oncologist Dr Mike Bayne.
Dr Bayne, has been a consultant oncologist in Poole since 2005 specialising in lung cancer, radiotherapy for haematological malignancy and is chair of the Dorset Neuroendocrine MDT.
His lung cancer patients are from Poole and Bournemouth but neuroendocrine and haematology patients come from across the county including many Dorset County Hospital patients.
Dr Bayne signed up to the Dorset Care Record (DCR) nine months ago and has found the electronic record useful during the Covid pandemic, which has restricted his clinics to Poole or led him to host more video/telephone consultations.
He uses the DCR through the UHD Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, and finds it has benefits. In the past, he has used the ICE record system to get blood results but he’s found it difficult to get to see GP patient letters and other clinical correspondence.
“It has always been a challenge to see letters – they are there but not easy to find – and sometimes it means having to log on to three or four different forms of software.
“With the DCR I can get the latest blood results from Dorchester and see the clinical letters which saves me time and enhances my ability to manage patients from the west of the county.”
He uses the system as and when necessary – so for example when he holds his twice monthly neuroendocrine clinics – where half his patients are from west Dorset – he’ll be using it throughout the session.
He likes the way the system is intuitive and easy to use and hopes that more colleagues across UHD will take advantage of the DCR.
“It is frustrating when you have different systems at different hospitals. For example, there are different ICE systems at Poole, Bournemouth and Dorchester – so it is good to have the DCR which covers health and social care information across the county.”
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