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DCR Programme Manager Andy Cowling

Review of the Year – 2020

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In our final thought piece of the year, our Programme Manager Andy Cowling highlights the progress made by partners across the Dorset Care Record over the past 12 months and looks at some of the exciting initiatives ahead.

It has been a really exciting and productive year for the Dorset Care Record programme with our component number rising to 47 and a number of major releases completed successfully through 2020. We have seen meaningful contributions from all our partners and one partner completing all their deliverables. We have also introduced single sign on functionality for many of our users, resulting in a huge increase in people using the system.

What has been especially pleasing to see is that the partners, Orion Health and the DCR project management office have been able to form strong and effective working relationships that has meant communication is better than ever and it really feels like a team.

Continue reading “Review of the Year – 2020” →

Astrid (left) on her Winston Churchill Fellowship in Kenya studying FGM

From an NHS project job to remote Sierra Leone; an unexpected but incredible development journey

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Seven years ago, our Programme Director Astrid Fairclough was seconded to the then Department of Health to lead the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) programme. Working closely with NHS Digital, the team delivered world leading statistics about FGM and the FGM Information Sharing System. Last year, with the support of a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellowship, Astrid travelled to Kenya, Egypt, Sierra Leone and Australia to look at the personal and emotional side to FGM. The report was published last week, and Astrid is now embarking on the next stage of her work – sharing her findings with colleagues across the NHS and those working to End FGM.

I’ve been lucky enough to have made a career in the NHS, but never when I joined my local PCT straight after school did I imagine that some 15 years later, my employer would supported me to complete an international research Fellowship. But last year, I travelled to Kenya, Egypt, Sierra Leone and then Australia, and I have just published my report recommending how we can improve how we tackle female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK.

Within this article, I’d like to both share a little about the research and also share about the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, the remarkable organisation who gave me a grant to complete this opportunity.

Continue reading “From an NHS project job to remote Sierra Leone; an unexpected but incredible development journey” →

Victoria Park Pharmacy in Dorchester

What community pharmacy access to shared health and social care records could mean for patient care

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In this blog, published in the industry periodical Pharmaceutical Journal, Dorchester pharmacist Robin Mitchell writes about the openings available to pharmacies now that they have access to the Dorset Care Record.

 

When the Dorset Care Record (DCR) launched in March 2018, it brought with it the many potential benefits of having patient information in one place and available to a broad range of health and social care professionals.

It is described as an electronic repository that provides a consolidated view of information from health and social care systems across the county of Dorset, and currently includes information from hospitals and GPs. Continue reading “What community pharmacy access to shared health and social care records could mean for patient care” →

Wessex Care Records/Orion Health medications hackathon

Hacking further towards medications interoperability in the UK

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Orion Health has been an ardent supporter of INTEROPen, a collaborative group created to unite suppliers and the NHS in the pursuit of interoperability, since its creation in 2016. On July 14th-15th, the company joined forces with Wessex Care Records to take part in the latest hackathon centred on medications interoperability. Here’s what was learnt:

The first morning of the hackathon kicked off with introductory presentations from INTEROPen, OneLondon, Wessex LHCR and NHSX. David Hancock, INTEROPen industry co-chair opened with a reflection on INTEROPen’s journey since 2016, and its continued importance as an organisation in balancing the demand push and the supply pull for interoperability in healthcare. He reflected that INTEROPen is still going strong four years on due to the complexity of the challenge, quoting Bob Wachter, “implementing health IT today is one of the most complex adaptive changes in the history of healthcare, and perhaps of any industry. Adaptive change involves substantial and long-lasting engagement between the leaders implementing the changes and the individuals on the front lines who are tasked with making them work.*” With INTEROPen’s mix of both vendor and NHS leadership and membership, the organisation is uniquely placed to encourage testing and adoption of emerging standards across the board. Continue reading “Hacking further towards medications interoperability in the UK” →

Healthwatch Dorset logo

Better sharing of health records between NHS and care services – a consumer view

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In our latest blog, Healthwatch Dorset’s manager Louise Bate considers the feedback the organisation gathers from local people and the benefits of joined up health and social care records

Healthwatch Dorset offers an independent way for local people to ask questions about health and social care services and give their feedback. We’re a small team – 4 members of staff, plus a fantastic group of 120 volunteers working across the county. We use all the feedback we gather, through community engagement, social media, press, events and focus groups to improve local services. You can read more about our work in our latest Impact Report: https://healthwatchdorset.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/HWDorset-Annual-Report-2019-20-finalLr2.pdf

Continue reading “Better sharing of health records between NHS and care services – a consumer view” →

David Way

Tips for video-conferencing in a Covid-19 world

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We are all using social media and video conferencing tools to communicate with friends, family and work in the Covid-19 era. Our Information Governance lead David Way highlights some tips to help us work more securely online

I joined the programme board of the Dorset Care Record just under two years ago having recently started work at Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust as their Information Governance manager and Data Protection Officer.

It was an interesting time to join the project as the big changes in data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, as it is better known, had come into place. There was a need for the project to ensure it was compliant with GDPR and the new Data Protection Act 2018.

Continue reading “Tips for video-conferencing in a Covid-19 world” →

Test manager Vinay Gunwant

Functionality, multiple systems and dealing with COVID-19: Our test manager’s view

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Our test manager Vinay Gunwant looks at some of the functionality linked to releases in the Dorset Care Record, highlights some of the issues posed in dealing with multiple systems and charts benefits to clinicians during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

I have been part of the Dorset Care Record (DCR) for the past four months and having been involved in the Gloucestershire shared care record (JUYI) I had a fair idea of the interoperability programmes and the potential issues and pitfalls that can affect the programme.

However, each programme has new stakeholders, different systems and suppliers and I felt it was important to get to know the personalities involved with the DCR and re-adjust to working smoothly with them.

Continue reading “Functionality, multiple systems and dealing with COVID-19: Our test manager’s view” →

WCR team 2020

Wessex Care Record – Partnership working key to success

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Wessex Care Records (WCR) is one of the first Local Health and Care Records (LHCR) programmes in England. Its aim is to create an information-sharing environment to improve the patient and healthcare professional experience by joining up records and data and making them accessible for individual care to people across Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Having recently completed its first year with the full team on board and hosted an annual review event for stakeholders, Clinical Lead, Dr Mark Kelsey and Programme Director, Astrid Fairclough reflect on the programme’s progress and future. Continue reading “Wessex Care Record – Partnership working key to success” →

DCR logo

Dorset Care Record: A Review of the Year and look ahead to 2020

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Tackling issues such as information sharing and sensitive patients by bringing together an agreed common approach among Dorset Care Record partners has been one of the year’s highlights for programme manager Elizabeth McEleney.

Elizabeth feels that this clear approach has helped overcome obstacles and helped build a strong foundation and greater confidence to help deliver a range of additional functionality for the DCR.

Continue reading “Dorset Care Record: A Review of the Year and look ahead to 2020” →

Durdle Door

An Issue of Social Justice – Sharing health and care records in Dorset

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The Dorset Care Record is a good example of how shared care records become more effective as they mature. It has just gone life with a clinical maternity pathway for practitioners and will be considering implementing Orion Health Medicines next year. However, communications and engagement manager Tony McDougal told a recent King’s Fund event that there is more to do.

Large-scale digital care record projects can take time to find their feet. Yet, once they move from “seeing to doing” – from giving clinicians a “view” of information held in different IT systems to using it to actively improve care – they can take off rapidly.

The Dorset Care Record is just at that point. Having spent two years integrating hospital and GP information using the Orion Health Amadeus open platform, it has just gone live with its first pathway: a clinical maternity pathway that will support Dorset’s pioneering Better Births project.

To read more about Tony’s six key takeaway messages  – go to Orion Health’s blog page – https://blog.orionhealth.com/an-issue-of-social-justice/