Improving GP's access to patient info

From today, the Waikato DHB will provide general practitioners access to its clinical computer system to share important patient treatment information.

Access will be read-only and apply to information like previous and future appointments, radiology and laboratory results, clinic letters, discharge summaries, theatre events, plus the patient's demographics and medications.


Waikato DHB Primary and Integrated Care clinical director Damian Tomic. Photo: Waikato DHB

Primary and Integrated Care clinical director Damian Tomic says it is another important step in linking up the healthcare of a person.

'It reflects how doctors in hospitals and in the community need to work together to provide the best care for a patient. Already we share a lot of information,” says Damian.

'For example, when a patient leaves hospital a discharge summary is sent to their GP.”

The new process will offer more detailed and timely information.

GP's will have remote access to the Waikato DHB's clinical workstation computer system that brings together key information about a patient's journey from assessment to the end of treatment.

By allowing access, this inevitably raises patient privacy concerns but Waikato DHB says it has looked hard at the implications and what needed to be done to protect patient privacy.

In order to use the service GP's will need to subscribe and also be required to acknowledge privacy and security responsibilities.

They will be monitored as part of the DHB's normal practice for its own hospital staff.

GP's will also need to get verbal consent from a patient before accessing that person's information in the DHB's clinical workstation system

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