NHS ‘behind the curve’, warns government
pharmafile | October 10, 2013 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | NHS, curve, technology
The government is on track to deliver a paperless NHS by 2018, according to parliamentary undersecretary of state for health Dr Daniel Poulter.
Speaking at the Healthcare Efficiency Through Technology Expo, Poulter said the move towards this was being ‘made in stages’. But he warned: “Health and care should be ahead of the curve. In some ways they have been behind it.”
Poulter’s boss, health secretary Jeremy Hunt, has already nailed his colours to the mast by pledging that ‘one region in England’ will have a fully portable electronic health record in place by the next general election.
“There is no conflict between the intelligent application of technology on the one hand and a human and humane approach to patients on the other,” Poulter said. “No technology could ever be so sophisticated that it obviated the need for human contact in medicine. But the best of it actually brings people closer to the professionals caring for them.
“The potential prizes for harnessing technology in the area of human health are vast,” he continued. “It is not hyperbolic to say that we can eradicate some diseases altogether, that we can hugely increase capacity in the system, and that we can help people to lead far longer and much healthier lives.”
Citing several examples of good practice, Poulter said the Maudsley Hospital gives mental health patients online access to their hospital and GP records – and Newham University Hospital has reduced missed outpatient appointments for diabetes by 11% through the use of Skype, he said.
The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital has trialled allowing spinal surgery patients to record on an iPad their progress in hospital after an operation and online when they got home – freeing up 300 new outpatient appointments per consultant surgeon annually, Poulter went on.
He also praised two hospitals where patient records were available online – St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust and New Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham – and said all hospitals should be in a position to share digital data from next April, and to make paperless referrals a year after that.
Part of the rationale behind portable health records is to ensure that different parts of the care system are immediately aware of medication being taken by patients who come into contact with them.
Poulter said: “Forty-four people died in the NHS last year as a result of being given the wrong medicine. Had prescription histories been readily available to hospitals, this number could potentially have been a lot lower.”
One of these cases, that of Gillian Astbury, who died in 2007 of diabetic ketoacidosis while an in-patient at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, is now the subject of a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive.
The first hearing in the case took place at Stafford Magistrates’ Court this week.
By March 2015, Poulter reiterated, the plan is that patients will be able to access their GP record online, book appointments and order repeat prescriptions.
Last month the government announced another £240 million towards a £500 million package for funding NHS IT – with local health and care systems coming up with the other £500 million themselves, matching the DoH’s commitment.
Part of this is for the ‘Safer Hospitals Safer Wards’ fund, which will be used for electronic prescribing, allowing doctors to send computer-generated prescriptions directly to pharmacies using barcodes which are unique to each patient.
Poulter said that these sorts of initiatives were “standard practice elsewhere in the world”, adding that US military veterans can download their health records, Danish patients can view hospital records online and 85% of prescriptions in Sweden are transferred from doctor to pharmacy online.
The other key driver of technology in the NHS is cost, with Poulter quoting a report by consultant PWC which estimated that better technology could save £4.4 billion from the NHS every year.
“[This is] money that can be freed up to provide safer, more effective, more personal care, and more face-to-face contact where that is appropriate,” he suggested.
On patient privacy, Poulter said that “several safeguards are being put in place”. But it is in the interests of people for information to be shared more effectively and more widely, he insisted.
“Health and care staff will receive first-class training in information governance, any data breaches will be dealt with honestly and immediately, and designated leaders on information governance will be appointed,” he pledged.
Sharing data more effectively is vital, Poulter concluded. “It will increase safety levels, save people from having to repeat themselves whenever they see someone new, improve care, and help us in the hunt for new cures and therapies for killer diseases.”
Adam Hill
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