Pre-launch Survey finds out what Council users expect from access | Latest News - Shared Care Record

A pre-launch survey sent to active users of the Shared Care Record in Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council has found that 100% of respondents think access to data in one single record, from multiple, existing sources will help deliver safer and more personalised care, as well as improve the patient’s experience and continuity of care.

 

The survey achieved a 20% response rate and aimed to find out if staff knew what the Shared Care Record was, what they thought they would use it for and whether they felt there would be a benefit for them in using it.

 

The respondents work across a variety of council services and provided us with an insight into the different support services available and how they felt access to the Shared Care Record could improve efficiency and better meet the needs of service users.

 

Over 80% of respondents knew about the Shared Care Record and were able to share with us what they felt they would use the system for:

•  To check/clarify medication records & general medical history.
• To access GP information (medical history), hospital diagnosis, therapy plans and discharge notices – all felt this would be invaluable.
• To support patients and service users in the community.
• To look at referrals and liaise with other services.
• To check if other services are involved and avoid duplication.
• To get access to medical history to better understand needs and tailor support to service users.
• To support triaging of patients.

 

Respondents all said they currently spend part of their day trying to find out information about their patients from other professionals or teams. Time spent:

 More than 3 hours – 9% of respondents

2 hours – 18% of respondents

1 hour – 55% of respondents

30 minutes – 18% respondents

 

When asked why they felt the system would help improve the delivery of safer, more personalised care, the respondents gave the following examples:

 

Save time/deliver safer care: having the ability to check medication instruction, even for a cream, will save time – currently we can spend hours on the phone waiting for call backs from surgeries (they don't have time), hospital wards or the pharmacy to double check instructions/doses/times.

 

Save time/improve care: having access to a person’s medical history including medication/allergy records in one place will save time and improve the care we can offer.

 

Save time/avoid repetition: it can normally take a significant amount of time to establish what other services a referral is open to, to enable us to more easily prioritise and triage the case. Service users cannot always tell us who they have seen or are seeing and end up repeating their story multiple times to multiple staff.

 

Avoid duplication: the ability to check if other services/teams are involved will help avoid duplication and enable us to provide reassurance that everyone’s needs will be addressed.

 

Personalised care: having access to service user information that all parties can see means the service users journey is more personalised, safe and all the information is available from different organisations.

 

Holistic care: access to information from multiple services will enable us to provide a holistic care plan through multi-disciplinary teams.

 

Save time/avoid duplication: access will better support triaging referrals and prevent duplicate input from multiple services.

 

Improve support offered: a discharge summary from the hospital does not include community physio or community mental health information so these details could be missed when assessing the client for on-going support.

 

Save time: in the past, I have spent a week chasing down who prescribed a pain killer and access to the Shared Care Record would give me the answer straight away.

 

Save time/improve discharge process: access will allow me to check that someone has everything in place – mobility, equipment, medication, support – to be safe for discharge and between calls in the community.

 

Avoid repetition/Improve mental health support: an individual referred due to poor mental health is struggling with daily tasks. They may have a carer who has their own health needs, and neither are clear on who is providing support. They have had lots of conversation with many different professionals. Having to keep repeating their story may result in them giving reduced information creating a very real risk for services trying to support them. Worst case scenario, they may withdraw entirely.

 

Respondents were from the following services: Prevention and early intervention, Reablement, Adult Social Care, HSD Therapy, PEI Referrals.