IT is key to controlling rising health costs and improving quality of patient care Health and IT

About the Health Industry

Online Appointments Some surgeries offer a service to book appointments over the internet, or via your digital TV or mobile phone. You can see the available appointments and choose the most convenient time, cancel or change your appointment, and sometimes request repeat prescriptions. This service is only available from surgeries that use the EMIS Access booking system.

Electronic patient record (EPR) systems have the potential to bring huge benefits to patients and are being implemented in health systems across the developed world. speed up clinical communication Storing and sharing health information electronically can: reduce the number of errors assist doctors in diagnosis and treatment

Patients can have more control of their own healthcare However…… increasing access to data through EPR systems also brings new risks to the privacy and security of health records. Electronic data also has vast potential to improve the quality of healthcare audit and research.

Example of electronic patient records at Montpelier Health Centre, Bristol

All appointments, visits and biopsies are recorded

A history of all conditions, illnesses and treatments with dates is kept

A record of all medication prescribed – current and in the past

What do doctors say about electronic patient records? “I can read my notes on a computer screen so doctor's handwriting is not a problem any more! The computer automatically checks for interactions between drugs which is a good safety factor. With all the patients' records on computer we can do research and audit much more easily” Dr Tim Mitchell, Montpelier Health Centre

What do reception staff say about electronic patient records? “Having the gp2gp option means that we can receive a record summary within 1 minute of registering a patient, including past medication, so when a patient registers we already have their past drugs which we can issue on their 1st visit without having to ring their previous practice. Summarising patient notes is quicker and more efficient as the previous GP record is amalgamated with our clinical system, instead of inputting all the key information we ‘tidy up’ and delete duplications, replace with better codes etc… Much quicker to search on patients clinical record than get out the notes and look through them. Everything is always in date order and not misfiled. Can read it clearly.” Karen Davis, IT Supervisor, Montpelier Health Centre

Results of survey carried out by Pulse (medical journal)

now support Connecting for Health’s plans for electronic care records plan to take part in a wider rollout are opposed to the secondary use of electronic care records for research report problems with availability of appointments through Choose and Book plan to opt their own records out of the scheme

Self-Diagnosis

“Is there a doctor in the house?” No need – I have my PDA. I’ll look on

Self-diagnosis…. …is the process of diagnosing, or identifying, medical conditions in oneself. It may be assisted by medical dictionaries, books, resources on the Internet, past personal experiences, or recognizing symptoms or medical signs of a condition that a family member previously had.

“I’m not that impressed with them. They tend to err on the side of caution and can produce panic and a demand for urgent consultations. Many are also commercially driven so will point people to certain 'diagnoses' and remedies. As with much on the internet, gullible and vulnerable people are too easily drawn in. However, once a diagnosis has been made by a doctor, they’re ok to refer to.” Dr Tim Mitchell, Montpelier Health Centre What do doctors say about self diagnosis websites?