Patient records go digital at Bradford hospitals

9:00am Monday 29th October 2012 in News

One-year-old Robin Moffat is presented with his certificate during his appointment by consultant Dave Strachan One-year-old Robin Moffat is presented with his certificate during his appointment by consultant Dave Strachan

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with its electronic medical records.

One-year-old Robin Moffat, who was born profoundly deaf, was the first patient to have an electronic medical record and he was presented with a certificate to mark the occasion when he attended the cochlear implant outpatients department at Bradford Royal Infirmary to discuss a forthcoming operation.

Robin’s consultant, surgeon Dave Strachan, said: “We are delighted that Robin, and indeed the cochlear implant service’s outpatients, are the first patients to benefit from the transfer to electronic medical records – known as Going Digital – as this programme has huge benefits for all.

“Patients will get a more efficient and secure system while staff will be able to access records at the touch of a button, across all sites.

“For doctors like myself, digitalising records and accessing them via computers or iPads will be the single biggest and most significant change to clinical practice that we will see during our working lifetime.”

The drive to replace thousands of paper patient records at Bradford Royal Infirmary, St Luke’s Hospital and the Foundation Trust’s four community hospitals with electronic ones is a huge task.

Hospital managers believe it will take a decade before the organisation is paper-free.

Work has already started on the scanning of casualty cards in the accident and emergency department and interim software has been introduced to allow clinicians to view them.

The next milestone is the spring and summer of 2013, when the scanning of case notes stored in the ear, nose and throat and ophthalmology records library will begin. This will be followed by a roll-out of the system across the whole Foundation Trust, with staff from all departments getting access to digital patient records.

Brent Walker, chief information officer, said: “Launching our new electronic patient record system is the first major step forward in achieving our shared vision of providing a more efficient, paperless system.

“In the not-so-distant future, it will also mean that every patient’s clinical records will be scanned into the system on demand, prior to a consultation or elective inpatient or day case visit, ensuring easy retrieval of information at the touch of a button.”

Comments(11)

Joedavid says...
9:54am Mon 29 Oct 12

Can we access our own records on this system?

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The Legion says...
10:01am Mon 29 Oct 12

Joedavid wrote:
Can we access our own records on this system?
Hi Joe, no it will use a login just like someone accessing their Hotmail or Facebook account (Both are similar Cloud based services). Its a huge step for an NHS trust to take but it does mean records will be up to date and more available and easier to access for medical staff no matter where they are in the hospital. I believe it will be a good thing and will stop records being lost or being inaccurate, and mos of all a first step toward a true national database.

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collos25 says...
10:05am Mon 29 Oct 12

I was in hospital for two operations and I could not believe the amount of paper that I generated even getting rid of the storage space required has to be a plus.

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Joedavid says...
10:20am Mon 29 Oct 12

collos25 wrote:
I was in hospital for two operations and I could not believe the amount of paper that I generated even getting rid of the storage space required has to be a plus.
Yes could it be used as a carpark?

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Albion. says...
11:18am Mon 29 Oct 12

At BRI I have had to recite my treatment history for the last decade, on two occasions when my notes were said to be lost! Hopefully this is the cure ;-)

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johnhem says...
11:57am Mon 29 Oct 12

there's also the benefit of an emergency doctor being able to get your records when they visit you at home. if they ask you whats happened in the past you could forget to mention something importent like allergies to certain meds. last year i was given anti-biotics by an emergency doc that left my upper body bright red and itched like hell. it was the right one for my problem but one i was allergic to so the next best should have been given. not the docs fault then because he did'nt have all the info at hand and i did'nt know i was allergic to that because i did'nt recognise the meds name.
over the last few years i have also generated a hell of a lot of paperwork, so if its there online it has to be easier for the docs to see all of your treatments and ailments.

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Joedavid says...
12:02pm Mon 29 Oct 12

johnhem wrote:
there's also the benefit of an emergency doctor being able to get your records when they visit you at home. if they ask you whats happened in the past you could forget to mention something importent like allergies to certain meds. last year i was given anti-biotics by an emergency doc that left my upper body bright red and itched like hell. it was the right one for my problem but one i was allergic to so the next best should have been given. not the docs fault then because he did'nt have all the info at hand and i did'nt know i was allergic to that because i did'nt recognise the meds name. over the last few years i have also generated a hell of a lot of paperwork, so if its there online it has to be easier for the docs to see all of your treatments and ailments.
Thought GP's Records were seperate and would not be these.

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Huneybunch says...
2:00pm Mon 29 Oct 12

Joedavid wrote:
johnhem wrote:
there's also the benefit of an emergency doctor being able to get your records when they visit you at home. if they ask you whats happened in the past you could forget to mention something importent like allergies to certain meds. last year i was given anti-biotics by an emergency doc that left my upper body bright red and itched like hell. it was the right one for my problem but one i was allergic to so the next best should have been given. not the docs fault then because he did'nt have all the info at hand and i did'nt know i was allergic to that because i did'nt recognise the meds name. over the last few years i have also generated a hell of a lot of paperwork, so if its there online it has to be easier for the docs to see all of your treatments and ailments.
Thought GP's Records were seperate and would not be these.
Yes they are seperate, but in time I think it will all be linked. Yes it is a good idea, as this is the way we are going, paper free and everything is being done on-line.

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RollandSmoke says...
3:36pm Mon 29 Oct 12

The information can be accessed at the touch of a button and will at best have strong password protection. When we see hacking groups like Anonymous and Lulzsec hacking into government and financial systems how secure are we supposed to believe our private and confidential medical data is? Although when the government can demand that you grant access to those records to a private company like ATOS the whole concept of doctor patient confidentiality has gone out the window.

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johnhem says...
12:27am Tue 30 Oct 12

Huneybunch wrote:
Joedavid wrote:
johnhem wrote:
there's also the benefit of an emergency doctor being able to get your records when they visit you at home. if they ask you whats happened in the past you could forget to mention something importent like allergies to certain meds. last year i was given anti-biotics by an emergency doc that left my upper body bright red and itched like hell. it was the right one for my problem but one i was allergic to so the next best should have been given. not the docs fault then because he did'nt have all the info at hand and i did'nt know i was allergic to that because i did'nt recognise the meds name. over the last few years i have also generated a hell of a lot of paperwork, so if its there online it has to be easier for the docs to see all of your treatments and ailments.
Thought GP's Records were seperate and would not be these.
Yes they are seperate, but in time I think it will all be linked. Yes it is a good idea, as this is the way we are going, paper free and everything is being done on-line.
sounds like that emergency doc did'nt read my notes then. at least they will all be there in future then, always assuming st. james's, bri, st. lukes, halifax general, the transplant unit at manchester and my docs all keep up to date ;-) ..... not a lot to ask

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Steve30d says...
1:45am Tue 30 Oct 12

If it's text only then a pretty basic system would probably help with the security. Don't use the internet at all but use an old fashioned dial up type system. Phone up to request the info. then hang up. If the system gives the all clear then have the system phone back on a specific number with the requested info. speed shouldn't be a great problem as I don't expect many doctors can read faster than 100 characters a second- It's pictures and and other fancyness that require high bandwidths.

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