Graph showing rise in use of DCR

Dorset Care Record viewed over 1.5m times by health and care professionals

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The Dorset Care Record (DCR) has now been viewed more than 1.5 million times by health and care staff, helping them provide faster, safer, and more effective care across the county.

This is a major milestone in the development of the Dorset Care Record, which was introduced in April 2018 to enhance communication between care professionals across Dorset.

November’s figures were the highest so far with 92,624 patient records accessed and 87,952 logins, representing an 8% monthly rise. Over the last 12 months, there has been a 66% rise in use of the DCR. Continue reading “Dorset Care Record viewed over 1.5m times by health and care professionals” →

Volunteering - Charmouth

Collecting litter along the Jurassic Coast – Our volunteering day

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Members of the Dorset Care Record (DCR) and Wessex Care Record (WCR) teams provided a helping hand for nature recently, spending time litter picking on the Jurassic Coast.

The dozen staff joined the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre manager Ali Ferris to comb through debris washed up on the beach by the week’s storms, finding wooden pallets, washed up flood defence debris, tyre inners, rope netting, plastics and microbeads. Continue reading “Collecting litter along the Jurassic Coast – Our volunteering day” →

Beckly Jupp, UHD Stroke Consultant

DCR – Providing a full picture for clinicians treating stroke patients

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Becky Jupp joined University Hospitals Dorset in January 2010 as a consultant physician, specialising in stroke and geriatric medicine – in particular patients who had suffered suspected transient ischaemic attacks – a mini stroke caused by temporary disruption in the blood supply to the brain.

Although she has only been using the Dorset Care Record (DCR) for a few months, she finds it extremely useful in clinic as the shared care record often has a fuller patient picture than the GP notes. Patients coming to clinic often are unsure of past and present medications and having a full picture of their history is particularly useful, especially if it’s necessary to alter the medication. Continue reading “DCR – Providing a full picture for clinicians treating stroke patients” →

Portland Bill

Dorset Care Record Stakeholder Update – November 2022

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Welcome to our latest stakeholder update about progress of the Dorset Care record and our new patient portal, myDCR.

1        Additional information in our shared care record

Adult alerts from Dorset Council are being added shortly to the Dorset Care Record. The new feed will allow GPs to know whether adult social care is involved with a specific patient and in what circumstance, based upon the alert that is now available in the system. Sharing this type of information can also enable early interventions to prevent the escalation of risk, coordinate effective and efficient response across our health and social care partnership and prevent abuse and harm that may increase the need for care and support.

We have also added a number of new document types to DCR from Dorchester County Hospital (DCH) – these include documents from Maternity, Cancer MDT and very recently pre-op assessments.

2        Ringwood medical practice supplying patient information

Clinicians and social care staff can now access GP data though our shared care record from the Ringwood Medical Practice in Hampshire. The GP practice, part of the Avon Valley Primary Care Network, is the first cross-border surgery to provide this information. To find out more about cross-border work with GP practices go to Ringwood Medical Practice supplies patient information to the Dorset Care Record – Dorset Care Record (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)

We are working with other non-Dorset GP practices and hope to have more information soon. Continue reading “Dorset Care Record Stakeholder Update – November 2022” →

Test manager role

A Day in the Life of a Test Nerd…

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Our test manager Georgina Hulbert gives an insight into life at the heart of the DCR PMO

07:00 Wake-up, school run, coffee, nerdle….. ready to tackle the day as a test nerd as part of the Dorset Care Record (DCR) Programme Management Office (PMO).  For anyone not 100% clear, the definition of ‘nerd’ is – NOUN….a foolish person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious.  Seems a little harsh to me, but I do love testing!

08:30 There are usually some regular tasks to take care of first thing, aided and abetted by the team of brilliant Business Analysts who support the testing.  Monitoring known issues in our test environment for example to try and establish a pattern and fix a problem.   Issues that take time and patience to resolve.  The satisfaction when we achieve a breakthrough is very gratifying. Continue reading “A Day in the Life of a Test Nerd…” →

Ringwood Medical Centre

Ringwood Medical Practice supplies patient information to the Dorset Care Record

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Clinicians at University Hospitals Dorset are now able to access GP data through the Dorset Care Record from the Ringwood Medical Practice in Hampshire. The GP practice, part of the Avon Valley Primary Care Network, is the first cross-border surgery to provide this information.
As well as covering Ringwood, the practice also takes patients from parts of the New Forest, including the surroundings villages of Ibsley, Poulner and Hightown, as well as patients living in the Dorset villages of Ashley Heath and St Leonards.
We are continuing to work with other cross-border GP practices including the Coastal Medical Partnership at New Milton and surgeries on the Wiltshire/Dorset border, such as Sixpenny Handley on the Cranborne Chase to ensure that clinicians based in Dorset can see all of the information about their patients held by GPs in different counties.
Ends
DCR - Runner up and highly commended in the HTN Efficiency Savings of the Year award

Dorset Care Record highly commended in HTN Efficiency Savings award  

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Delivery of efficiency savings along with benefits in patient experience, care and safety led the Dorset Care Record to be highly commended in the Health Tech Efficiency Savings of the Year award. Benefits found include the delivery of more than £2m in efficiency savings to its health and social care partners in 2021/2, with savings increasing over time as more data was added, making it easier for users to find information without logging into other systems or making enquiries. Continue reading “Dorset Care Record highly commended in HTN Efficiency Savings award  “ →

Katy George

Utilising the Dorset Care Record – a perspective from medicines management

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University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) Medicines Management Technician Katy George has been using the Dorset Care Record for the past two years, after hearing of its benefits from colleagues.

Complementing the role of hospital pharmacists, Katy is involved in supplying medication to patients while they are in hospital, in preparation for their discharge; counselling patients on their past and current medication; carrying out technical checks and liaising with members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure a safe and efficient service.

Katy uses the DCR hundreds of times a month to complete medicine reconciliation and drug histories of patients, updating medicines data from GPs and discharge letters. Continue reading “Utilising the Dorset Care Record – a perspective from medicines management” →

SIDeR

SIDeR – Making the right information available to the right professional at the right time

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In the fifth of our series of webinars, Dr Justin Harrington, Chief Clinical Information Officer NHS Somerset ICB and Jess Brown, digital programme officer, talk about the SIDeR Shared Care Record (SSCR), which went live in November 2020. They highlight its expansion across health and social care, its key functionality, clinical benefits, current usage and provide a demo of the test system. With the help of Tiff Hodkinson, Chief Operating Officer at their provider Black Pear Software, they touch on what’s next for SIDeR and answer a range of questions from the online audience.