Welcome to our latest stakeholder update about progress of the Dorset Care Record and our new patient portal, myDCR.
Growing the Dorset Care Record
More than 76,000 patient records were viewed by health and social care professionals in March, making it the busiest month ever for our shared care record. The figure was nearly 14% per cent higher than in February and meant there were 2,400 records being accessed every day. The number of active users also rose, highlighting the success of our online training around information sharing and security. Nearly 4,000 staff have now completed this training.
Piloting our patient portal – myDCR
Our patient portal, myDCR, went live for piloting in mid-March. We are currently undertaking a range of pilots for the patient portal, working with University Hospitals Dorset, Dorset County Hospital and individual patients. These pilots including adding friends and family/inviting representatives as part of the My Support Network/Circle of Care; publishing documents, shared files, photos, sharing goals and actions and clinical correspondence. We are also piloting cancer results from the Dorset Cancer Partnership into the myDCR portal, starting with the breast team before rolling out to other cancer specialities.
The pilots will last approximately 3 months ahead of a wider rollout, working with clinicians to help them invite patients to join this exciting new initiative.
If you would like a presentation from one of the PMO teams, please contact our Communications and Engagement Officer Tony McDougal – tony.mcdougal@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
To find our more see our full length video – MyDCR Extended Video – YouTube
Benefits Baseline shows DCR making £2m savings this year
Our research suggests that the DCR has enabled efficiency savings of more than £1.4m in the first 9 months of the 2021/2 financial year. Additional feeds and great usage led to a rise in time savings over the year, rising from £333,109 in the first quarter to £586,675 in quarter three, according to the analysis.
Based upon unique user figures from the turn of the year, it is projected that a total of just under £2m will be saved during the financial year from time savings and a reduction in paper. Our Senior Reporting Officer (SRO) Peter Gill said he was delighted with the results: “The challenge now is to look at benefits beyond simple efficiencies and to provide strong evidence to support any additional benefits identified.” For more go to
Benefits baseline established for the Dorset Care Record – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)
Knowledge Transfer – Sharing our thoughts through webinars
Since our last newsletter, we’ve been working with Wessex Care Records to develop a series of shared care record webinars on pertinent subjects. So far, we have had two – one around Communications and Engagement and the second, in February, looking at how community pharmacists are using the DCR. To find out how Marnhull pharmacist David Rose is using the DCR to help patients go to – How a community pharmacist uses the Dorset Care Record during the week – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)
And to view the webinar, which features Dorset Local Pharmaceutical Committee Chief Officer Amanda Moores, go to Webinar: Community Pharmacies and the Dorset Care Record – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)
Increased functionality – Greater understanding of patients’ health across community settings
A history of medical interactions between different services in community settings can now be fully seen in the Dorset Care Record. Until earlier this year when a patient’s care spell came to an end in a community unit, such as a community hospital, the information was no longer shared and wasn’t visible to clinicians using the DCR. For example, information around a patient who was under a physio team would no longer be shown when they were discharged.
Ian Haywood, Wessex Care Records business analyst, said this ensures a history of interactions with different services are shown and that’s hugely beneficial.”
To find out more go to our news story: Ended care spells changes marks greater understanding of patients across community settings – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)
Case studies show breadth of use across the DCR
Clinical coders are among the latest health and social care professionals to benefit from the DCR. Clinical coding is the process of transferring the information about diseases or procedures recorded in the health records into numeric or alphanumeric codes, to categorise health record information.
Chris Webb, a clinical coder at Dorset County Hospital, said he found the shared care record useful because of its plethora of information: “As a clinical coder, I used the Dorset Care Record as the best and most complete record of patients’ co-morbidities, which is key to producing accurate and complete patient coding.”
To find our more about Chris’s case study go to Clinical Coders – How they use the Dorset Care Record – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)
And for other case studies, including how community mental health nurse Angela Jones uses the care record to enhance the triage of referrals go to – Using the Dorset Care Record to enhance the triage of referrals – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)
Diabetes Pathway goes live at Dorset County Hospital
Our diabetes clinical pathway has gone live at Dorset County Hospital. It is allowing clinicians involved in the treatment of the 30,000 diabetes patients in Dorset access to more accurate data when needed. The system removes the need to re-enter data and allows information to be shared between trusts. In doing so, the system helps improve the engagement between health professionals from different disciples, including dieticians and podiatrists, ensuring that different places in the care system can be used to inform and improve the treatment of patients.
Out and About with the DCR/myDCR
We are very conscious that Covid-19 has meant a reduction in face-to-face engagement activities across health and social care organisations. We continue to promote our work to organisations and in the past few months have spoken to the Dorset CCG Digital Public Engagement Group, the wider Public Engagement Group, stakeholders involved in the Dorset Council Routes to Inclusion digital project, Carers Support Dorset and others. If you’d like either a virtual or a face-to-face update, do contact us at dorsetcarerecord@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
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