The Leeds Care Record is now rolled out to neighbourhood teams across Leeds to help improve the joined up care system across the city.
Leeds Care Record is a web based solution which enables care professionals to view real time health and care information across care providers and between different systems. It is a secure computer system that keeps all health records strictly confidential and can only be accessed by care professionals who are directly involved in a patient’s care.
Neighbourhood teams, run by Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, comprise of district nurses, community matrons, intermediate care professionals and social workers along with the existing GP practice staff. Organisations that deliver health and social care in Leeds are working together to improve services in the community and Leeds Care Record is helping them to deliver a joined up service.
Alongside the roll out to neighbourhood teams, Leeds Care Record is also now being used by all 107 GP practices in Leeds, Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust and Leeds York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Care professionals in these organisations have been working with the Leeds Care Record to help provide better and more joined up care to the patients they are directly involved with. By accessing up-to-date and accurate information it has improved efficiency. It has also helped to avoid unnecessary or duplicate tests and procedures, and reduce paperwork for doctors, nurses and other staff, giving them more time to spend on patient and service user care.
There are over 300 clinical computer systems in Leeds. They all hold clinical information about patients who have used services provided by their GP, at a local hospital, community healthcare, social services or mental health teams. Each record may hold slightly different information. This brings together certain important information from all of these systems so that health information held about a patient can be viewed in one place.
Leeds Care Record holds certain information about a patient or service user, for example:
• Address and telephone numbers – so we have one set of contact details for you
• A list of diagnosed conditions – to make sure your health or social care professional have an accurate and complete record of your care
• Medication – so everyone treating you can see what medicines you’ve currently been prescribed
• Allergies – to make sure you aren’t prescribed or given any medicines you could have an adverse reaction to
• Test results – to speed up your treatment and care
• Referrals, clinic letters and discharge information – to make sure the people caring for you have all the information they need about other treatment you’re having elsewhere
Kippax Neighbourhood Team started using the secure online system in December 2014 as a pilot and after a successful evaluation it has now been rolled out to all the neighbourhood teams in Leeds. The following comments were received following the Kippax Neighbourhood Team pilot:
Gary Schofield, Social Worker: “ This is REALLY good! It enables me to see information in other systems so I know more about the patient I am going to see..”
Chris Woods, District Nurse:“ I was able to use this whilst working on a weekend when I couldn’t call the GP.”
Angela Kier, NT Co-ordinator: “This will save me time phoning round wards and chasing GPs for summaries.”
Kiera Pagdin, Staff Nurse: “It enabled me to see what had happened to a patient who had been hospitalised, meaning I didn’t make a wasted journey to see them whilst they were in hospital.”
To find out more visit www.LeedsCareRecord.org
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Notes to editors
1. The Leeds Informatics Board, a group of senior managers and clinicians from across health and social care organisations in Leeds, commissions the delivery of the Leeds Care Record.
2. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is leading the development and rollout of the Leeds Care Record. This secure, web-based application is powered by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust ppm+ platform.
3. For media enquiries about Leeds Care Record, please contact leeds.carerecord@nhs.net Tel: 0113 20 60293.
