The clinical exchange platform (CEP) is in full swing at St George’s, giving clinicians access to their patients’ GP record: diagnoses, diagnostics, medications and other clinical information. Information stored in GPs’ practice systems are now visible in Cerner Millennium®. This has been enabled by the implementation of Cerner’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform.
In return, GPs can view their patients’ records stored in Millennium from within their practice system. Information includes diagnoses, problems and procedures, laboratory and radiological diagnostics and discharge documentation, including emergency department and discharge summaries.
To enable patients’ records to be shared, GPs and the Trust have signed a data-sharing agreement. All Wandsworth practices (apart from two) have done so, meaning they can view information contained within their patients’ hospital electronic medical record.
The same technology is used to share data between other Cerner sites and can offer individual patients a look at their joint clinical record via a patient portal.
Mr Prash Thurairatnam, Managing Partner, Tudor Lodge Health Centre, tells us what the clinical exchange platform offers to Wandsworth GPs.
“Access to patients’ hospital records enables GPs to provide better care for their patients. CEP allows access from within the GP clinical system to the hospital records of patients. This integrated access removes the need to log into multiple systems. Further, patient information is presented in real-time and in easily understood categories which leads to improved efficiencies that are becoming increasingly important in the new model of care.”
Benefits to GPs and patients include:
- Access to hospital records from anywhere so long as the GPs have the means to access their own clinical system
- Peace of mind that the built-in security and audit trail features allow access to shared patient records only and facilitates monitoring of use
- Real-time access to a range of information about patients, including appointments, discharge summaries, medications, allergies, diagnostics and problems
The CEP not only improves communication and collaboration between the hospital staff and GPs, it also brings health care professionals and patients closer together.
This blog was written by Ian Salmon, Programme Manager and Dr Martin Gray, Director PICU & Chief Clinical Information Officer at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
