The Scottish Parliament is to debate a proposal to set up an electronic patient record system in a session on 9 June 2005.
A report submitted to the parliament on modernising Scotland's NHS recommends that an electronic health record be set up within three years. It calls on the Executive to purchase an off the shelf system rather than developing something specific to Scotland. The report sets out a range of IT proposals as part of a wider framework to improve the NHS in Scotland. It wants the Executive to "implement urgently a national information and communications technology system, including an electronic patient record and the development of telemedicine, as a means to improve access, quality, research and integration of the NHS".
The health record would interface with social care systems and Scotland's patient identifier known as the Community Health Index. Scotland is already carrying out initial work in line with a patient record with local NHS boards working on what is known as the Scottish Care Information (SCI) store. This work involves integrating and updating existing clinical systems.
Along with the recommendations for a health record are proposals for e-prescribing, e-booking, picture archiving, remote patient monitoring as well as telemedicine.
The plans are based on the English NHS IT programme and the US Veteran's Health Administration's Computerised Patient Record System (CPRS).
An e-prescribing system for Scotland would be similar to the US veteran's department's bar code scheme, according to the proposals. The e-booking service would work in tandem with new referral management centres also proposed by the report.
Quelle: KableNET, 08.06.2005
