Dorset County Hospital

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Dorset Care Record Stakeholder Update – Spring 2023

tonymcdougal

Welcome to our latest stakeholder update about progress of the Dorset Care Record. This will be my last update as I have moved to become a Communications Business Partner for Adults and Housing at Dorset Council.

Two adult hospices join our shared care record

Two of Dorset’s adult hospices – Lewis Manning Hospice Care at Poole and Dorchester-based Weldmar Hospice have joined the Dorset Care Record (DCR). They will be able to provide end of life care information for our core partners as well health and social care organisations across the county.

Two hospices for adults join the Dorset Care Record – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk) Continue reading “Dorset Care Record Stakeholder Update – Spring 2023” →

Tony McDougal

Keeping eyes on the goal…

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Our communications and engagement manager Tony McDougal has been involved with the Dorset Care Record since its launch 5 years ago. In his farewell piece, he highlights the triumphs and frustrations encountered on the shared care record’s journey.

It’s been an amazing five years. A privilege to provide the communications, engagement and at times, training, for our shared care record. There have been many mountains to climb. Valleys to tumble into. But buoyed by an incredibly resilient and supportive team, we have become a mature and sought-after care record.

It hasn’t always been so. We hadn’t, perhaps naively, anticipated issues around consent. Every partner had a different opinion. Council adult services, well versed in asking for consent every time they saw a patient, were at odds with acute hospitals Emergency Departments. ED clinicians said it was impossible to ask for consent for someone being carried in unconscious on a Friday night. Continue reading “Keeping eyes on the goal…” →

Dorset County Hospital

Additional alerts from DCH available in the DCR

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Nearly 70 alerts have been added to the Dorset Care Record this week by one of our key health partners, Dorset County Hospital (DCH). The additional alerts, which have been added to an existing feed, include allergy alert types, such as hay fever, latex, house dust, bees and wasps and adhesives, to help increase awareness among clinicians.

Other alerts that have been added include those around specific medical conditions, including possible cases of tuberculosis and previous pressure ulcer alerts, Munchausen syndrome and mental disorders, child safeguarding and social alerts, such as patient notes, armed forces information and patients who have multiple aliases.

The additional alerts mean that DCH now provides nearly 100 different alerts into the shared care record.

Ends

myDCR logo for the DCR patient portal

Piloting myDCR – Our Patient Portal: Mark’s story

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Since the summer we have been piloting our patient portal, myDCR, involving more than 200 residents across Dorset, trialling different elements with specific patients. In our final case study of the year, Mark talks about how he has found myDCR and improvements he’d like to see.

Mark first heard about myDCR via an email invite to sign up from his Dorset County Hospital clinician Rebecca, who works at the Dorchester Diabetes Centre.

He was invited to trial the sharing of images and photographs, sent by the podiatry clinic, and found the initial sign-up process was simple to access from the link supplied in the invitation email. Continue reading “Piloting myDCR – Our Patient Portal: Mark’s story” →

lady in mask

Hospital pharmacists help drive up use of the Dorset Care Record

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Additional information around medications has led to a huge rise in hospital pharmacists using the DCR – three of the top eight users at Dorset County Hospital can be found at the Dorchester-based pharmacy.

Jiapei Ong became interested in pharmacy while talking to her cousin, a pharmacist in Malaysia. She  liked the way pharmacists worked with patients to improve their care. Jiapei then studied at Nottingham University, ahead of a pre-registration community pharmacy stint around Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire.

Jiapei moved to Dorset County Hospital last summer and is one of 20-30 pharmacists, working with patients in the wards and providing cover in the dispensary. Continue reading “Hospital pharmacists help drive up use of the Dorset Care Record” →