NHS Grampian is to provide care management teams with direct access to healthcare records, to improve care planning for people across the region. At present, social care teams in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, and Moray must request information from NHS staff. During the trial, care management teams will be able to access the data – stored on a system called TrakCare - directly.
Strict data controls will be in place, and care management teams must meet the same standards as NHS Grampian staff before access to TrakCare is approved.
Christopher Middleton, Whole System Flow Lead for Grampian said: “The present system builds delay into the care planning process, and we know delay is the last thing people want. We want health and social care teams alike to be able to work together, in a properly integrated system. This pilot is a step towards that.”
Sandra Macleod, Chief Officer, Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership, said: “This is a great opportunity to streamline the process, further enhance partnership working and help reduce bureaucracy.
“Access to healthcare records by the appropriate care management staff will ensure that all relevant information about the patient or service user is known quickly, which will enable staff to make informed decisions in a timely manner and by doing so benefit the outcomes for the people we serve.”
Pam Milliken, Chief Officer for the Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership, said: “This is a real step forward and will really help to ensure that we can all work in a better, more joined up way to support people across Grampian. Our teams work well together but this will ensure that they are able to work more efficiently and make sure people get the care and assessments they need sooner.”
Simon Bokor-Ingram, Chief Officer for Health & Social Care Moray, said: “Our priority is to ensure that our residents get timely access to the right care, with those organising and delivering that care having the most up to date information that makes decision making safe. We take the protection and security of data very seriously and will work within the rigorous guidelines to ensure that residents data is only accessed by those that need to and where it is relevant.”
Alan Bell, Head of Information Governance & Data Protection said: “We take our responsibility to keep data safe and secure very seriously. I want to assure the public care management teams will only access records when there is a clinical need. We have created a Privacy Notice specifically for this trial, which people can read on our website.”
The pilot will run for six months. It ties in with NHS Grampian’s Plan for the Future by showing whole system working and putting people at the centre of their care.
The Privacy Notice is available to view here: Data Privacy Notification (nhsgrampian.org)
Anyone with further queries should contact: gram.infogovernance@nhs.scot