A Dorset County Council Occupational Therapy Assistant talks about how the Dorset Care Record can help provide a better overview of client’s health conditions:
I find that many people have limited knowledge of their own medical history when we visit them, (unless the referral has come from their GP or hospital team) and we have been reliant on what they are able to tell us.
Alternatively, with their permission, we request information about their GP by letter or a surgery meeting, which can delay assessment. Medication scripts have been another historic route we have used, but are not necessarily concurrent to the conditions people have.
It’s really a circle, many people are unaware or misunderstand all of their conditions, or don’t describe them in context (“I have arthritis” – actually osteoporosis) therefore understanding the long term ramifications is made much clearer if you are able to access their medical record, via the Dorset Care Record, to get the full picture.
I am fortunate to be working within a community hospital where we have health and social care co-ordinators embedded into our teams so we have a better chance of obtaining medical information when they are present, however there are many occasions when this is not possible.
With mostly GP records available, we are in the early days of what can be gleaned from DCR, but hopefully we will be able to see who else is active or has received referrals in occupational therapy, and an insight into whether physiotherapy or rehabilitation are involved.
From a care perspective, access to ambulance service information will aid our care provision and planning in informing us of recent health episodes and we look forward to this expansion. The recent searches I have conducted in the DCR have been very quick and informative to allow me to obtain a health overview of conditions which contribute to the holistic assessment of our clients.