Viewing the Dorset Care Record (DCR) enables Occupational Therapist (OT) Kevin Barlow to enhance client outcomes, saving time, preventing duplication of resources, and improving communication between health and social care services.
Kevin currently works as an OT in Adult Social Care Services for Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) covering the Poole Town Locality. The OT work involves enabling clients, after illness or injury, to stay safe and independent in their own homes, through providing equipment and arranging home adaptations.
For example, if someone has had a stroke and is unable to use their bath, an OT would assess if equipment like a bath lift would meet the person’s need. If not, then an adaptation like a level access shower might be considered.
Kevin has been involved with the DCR for many years – first in its development when he was involved with the selection process for the company to provide DCR. As a result, he has always had an awareness that the DCR was going to happen and was pleased to see it come to fruition.
Kevin has been using DCR for around four years. Initially, he did not use it much as most information exchange between services was conducted over the phone. Covid and working from home led him using the DCR more frequently as it was more difficult to contact key people. It has now established itself as a useful tool and is used most days by Kevin.
“Yesterday, I phoned the community therapy team twice to talk about two different clients. I was unable to successfully contact the therapist and accessed DCR to see who was involved with the client’s care. I noticed the therapists had visited both clients during the previous week and could read about their interventions. This helped me decide my course of intervention and email them directly. It saved time and duplication of effort.”
Before DCR, it was difficult to know which Teams were involved with the client. “I remember an occasion when three OTs turned up at the same time to see a client/patient, one from the Intermediate Care team, one from the Rehab team and me. None of us knew the others were involved causing a waste of time for two of us.”
Being able to access the GP summary records is very helpful for him. The diagnoses, treatments and medications patients are taking, specialists referred to and discharge summaries from hospital, as clients are sometimes not able to detail this or are a little confused about their treatments. Likewise, it is informative to be able to read the District Nurse summary records.
Another aspect of an OT’s work in Adult Social Care Services, is risk assessing the client’s level of assistance needed with transfers, like getting up from a bed. This could involve enabling the provision of specialist moving and handling equipment and providing a moving and handling care plan. This details how the client should be assisted with the specialist equipment, by their carer. Sharing these plans with the different teams that might be involved has always not been possible and relies on ad hoc communication between the services.
Kevin is part of a group of OTs from across the county (both hospital and Social Care) that are exploring the option to use the DCR to allow these moving and handling care plans, to be shared between all teams that are involved with the client or could become involved. This will allow the hospital teams to check and read the plans from the community and vice versa. At present it they are shared via email on an ad hoc basis rather than standard practice. Having it recorded centrally on DCR will improve practice and standards and outcomes for the client, which is where it is hoped they can be stored and updated by whichever service is involved with them.
Our health colleagues are also looking forward to being able to access Social Care Services summary records to better inform their interventions and enable better outcomes for the client/patient.
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