Integrated Electronic Patient Record

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust (HWHCT) and General Practices (GPs) in Worcestershire are working collaboratively to deliver an integrated electronic health record linkage that would enable the sharing of personal health data between health professionals to facilitate the transformation of healthcare services in Worcestershire.

An integrated electronic health record is made up of relevant data from HWHCT & GPs. Which is then made available through two versions of the EMIS clinical system (“EMIS Community” which is used by HWHCT, and “EMIS GP” which is used by Worcestershire GPs) to provide a read-only view of a patient’s health information via the secure Health and Social Care Network (HSCN). This enables healthcare professionals who are directly involved in your healthcare to access the information needed to provide you with the best possible care.

Integrating your electronic health record will enable healthcare professionals who are directly involved in your healthcare to provide you with the best possible care. Currently healthcare providers you visit may each hold a different set of records about you. These records often contain duplicate information; or one record may hold information about a specific treatment or medication, and the other may not.

The primary benefits to having an integrated electronic health record linkage are:
• Avoidance of duplicate investigations or repeating the same information to different clinicians, thus improving patient experience
• Clinicians will have an increased awareness of key patient information e.g. prescribed medications.
• Improved communication between services and reliability of referrals
• Reduced hospital attendances/admissions as clinicians will have awareness of pre-existing conditions and treatment plans
• Reduced repeat testing with the availability of results across care settings
• Clinicians will be able to check previous referrals and appointments
• Enhanced transfer of care between services
• Enable healthcare professionals to access up-to-date information in circumstances where intervention is necessary to save or protect life or prevent a patient from serious/immediate harm. For example, during a collapse, unconsciousness, serious injury or accident.

Primarily your EHR data will be linked via your NHS number, or other key identifiers such as name, postcode and date of birth. The tested and certified EMIS clinical system then uses specially designed matching algorithms to link matching records.

Your demographical information such as;
• Name
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Ethnic origin
• Postal or email address
• NHS number
• Telephone number
• Next of kin.

Your medical information such as:
• dates and outcomes of hospital visits;
• upcoming appointments;
• allergies, referrals, prescribed medications, investigations, and diagnoses.

Details of the healthcare professionals involved in your care.

Only those who are directly involved in your healthcare (e.g. registered and regulated health professionals and administrative staff). These professionals owe a duty of confidentiality as a result of their employment by their healthcare organisations.

No, it cannot. Your health records can only be viewed securely via the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) which is the data network for health and care organisations.

No. We will not sell your personal information to any third parties for any purposes. Your integrated electronic health record will only be viewed by health professionals who work for your GP or Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. These are health professionals who are directly involved in your care and they owe a duty of confidentiality by virtue of their employment contract.

Yes, and this is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR). Your GP and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust have information on their website about how to make a SAR. You can also find out more in their Privacy Notices.

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust (HWHCT) and General Practices (GPs) in Worcestershire use your information in accordance with the data protection legislation and cyber security laws.
Staff accessing the system have Role Based Access Control (RBAC) via their smartcard, and access is granted strictly on a rigorous need-to-know basis. This means only those individuals who need access to your information will have access to it, and they will only have access to the data items that they need to see.

All access to the system is auditable and logged to track precisely who has accessed your information and for what purpose. All staff receive annual mandatory training about confidentiality and data protection, information and records management. The organisations regularly check to make sure that only people who need to see your patient record are viewing it.

No. Care.Data and other national programs are completely separate from this local initiative. We are only integrating data from your local your GP system and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care system to provide you with the best possible care.

Yes, this applies to children’s records including midwifery, health visiting and school nursing, If you are a parent or guardian of a child, you make (or approve) their decisions and exercise of rights about these records until they reach 13 years of age. A parent or guardian can request to restrict what information is shared or who with about your child. If you are the parent or guardian of a child and feel that they are able to understand how their information is used, then you should make this information available to them. In addition, someone who is legally responsible for another adult can restrict sharing on their behalf.

Yes, you have general right to opt-out or raise an objection to having your record fully or partly integrated.

If you do not wish to integrate your full health record or, a particular piece of your health information, you can exercise your right by contacting your relevant GP or Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust.

Generally, we would recommend that you think carefully before opting out of having your health record integrated because sharing information about your health will make it easier for healthcare professionals to provide you with the best possible treatment and experience. This will also enable healthcare professionals to access up-to-date information about your health in circumstances where intervention is necessary to save or protect your life.

Yes, you can opt back in by talking to your GP Practice or Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust.

We will process your personal information fairly, lawfully, transparently, and rely on at least one legal basis under the data protection legislation. We will not share your personal information for a purpose that is incompatible with the purpose of provision of healthcare.

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