Scotland information technology strategy
August 2006
The National eHealth/IM&T Strategy, was published in Scotland in April 2004. This provides the vision of a single electronic record. Developments in Scotland will largely be based on existing structures and the procurement of a set of products rather than a single system. Components of the programme include the following:
The National Clinical Dataset Development Programme (NCDDP)
The NCDDP actively works with the clinical community in Scotland to ensure that the clinical content of NHS Scotland's IT systems is fit for clinical purpose. The vision of the programme is to support clinicians to develop sets of interoperable national data standards to facilitate the implementation of integrated care records across NHS Scotland. National clinical data standards ensure data collected across care settings, specialties and professional groups is consistent. This means that key clinical information is recorded exactly the same way, no matter where or when it is collected. For more information. Go to the website here www.clinicaldatasets.scot.nhs.uk
Community Health Index (CHI) number
The CHI is a unique identifier for each patient in Scotland. It will ensure that when a patient receives care in different places, parts of the record e.g. requests, referrals letters etc can be tagged with this number and collated together.
Emergency Care Summary Record
The Emergency Care Summary system extracts demographical and clinical information from GP systems and holds it centrally so that it can be accessed by healthcare professionals working in an out of hours setting. In addition to demographics, the record contains details of allergies, adverse reactions and current medication. Clinicians must ask their patient for their explicit consent to view their record before it is displayed on the screen. All accesses to this data will be audited, and the practice will be able to check who has looked at their own patients' records.' Audits will also be run weekly by the PCT IT dept to check for fraud.
The Scottish Care Information (SCI) Store
The Scottish Care Information Store is an information repository, connected to local systems, which has been designed to collate, store and provide controlled access to patient clinical information.
SCI Gateway
The SCI gateway is a national system, which connects primary care and secondary care systems using internet technology. At present 35,000 referrals and discharges are made per month via the gateway.
SCI Discharge
Test results, diagnosis, treatment and discharge drugs are recorded using this software and then can be automatically incorporated into a patient’s discharge letter. The discharge letter can be sent electronically using the SCI Gateway.
SCI Outpatients
This supports the outpatient referral process. Components include an online appointment slot search, clinic management support and bar coding of patient information.
Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACs)
It is expected that a National PACs system will be rolled out during 2007.
Emergency Department Information System (EDIS)
This National A&E system allows patient tracking using a ‘whiteboard’ feature. Eventually touch screen technology will be incorporated. EDIS is currently being rolled out across Scotland and to date it has been rolled out in six Board areas.
GPEX
This allows the transfer of electronic records from one GP practice to another. At the time of writing 60,000 records have been exchanged using the system.
ePharmacy
The ePharmacy service will provide an electronic solution for the processing of prescriptions, provide support to pharmacists and should reduce the number of patients needing to visit their doctor to collect a prescription. Over a million electronic prescriptions are transferred per year.
Engagement
Engagement with clinicians to date has been positive and the BMA is represented on the National ehealth/IMT Board and on the Clinical Information Steering group.
The BMA is in the process of setting up a Scottish IT Committee and further details will follow.