New Share for You technology breaks through boundaries

New secure technology means that doctors, nurses and social care practitioners in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale will be able to see a patients’ full health records, giving them a better overall picture of their health.

Up to now, hospital doctors and nurses, or practitioners in social care, had to rely on the briefest of health records or the memories and accounts of patients when making important treatment decisions, sometimes in life or death situations.

A new project called ‘Share for You’ is being implemented across all health and social care agencies in the Rochdale borough which allows the full records to be securely shared from the GP surgery to the hospital or clinic setting systems, once the patient has granted their permission.

When a patient’s records are requested, it collects the information from the different system and shows the information to the requester. None of the information it collects is stored and none of it can be changed. Because it collects the information only when it is needed, the information is always accurate and as up to date as possible.

Before any information is collected or displayed to a care professional, patient consent must be provided. Patient consent is recorded on the system in an audit trail so that it is accessed only on a need to know basis and no information is stored or saved within any other setting.

Dr Venkatesh Mallya, from Littleborough Group Practice, has been involved in devising the new innovation locally, he said: “This technology has the potential to save lives, reduce harm and improve health. By allowing doctors and nurses who are treating patients in hospitals or clinics to view their medical records in full, we are giving them a fuller picture of the patients’ background and history, thus helping their treatment decisions. In order to protect this information there are strict codes of confidentiality meaning that only when a patient has consented to sharing, can the clinician or practitioner view the records.”

Information about Share for You is being shared in health and social care settings including GP practices, hospitals and clinics.