By Gemma Simpson, 24 July 2007 13:47
NEWS
The national rollout of the NHS patient electronic health record transfer system GP2GP has begun.
GP2GP is one of the projects within the wider NHS IT programme and allows patient health records to be transferred between GP practices electronically, instead of using the traditional paper-based system.
The national rollout of version 1.1 of GP2GP will initially be for doctors' practices with two clinical systems - EMIS LV 5.2 and INPS Vision 3 - with further suppliers due to join the rollout at a later date.
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This national rollout follows a number of trials and an earlier rollout of version 1.0 of GP2GP to more than 650 practices which enabled patient records to be transferred between the same clinical systems.
More than 10,000 transfers of electronic health records have now taken place using GP2GP.
Version 1.1 allows patient records to be transferred across different clinical systems - such as from EMIS LV 5.2 to INPS Vision 3.
The next steps for the GP2GP project include upgrading practices which are currently using the earlier version of GP2GP and beginning the rollout of the software to those Primary Care Trusts and practices that have not yet been involved in the project.
Dr Paul Robinson, co-chairman of the Joint GP IT Committee, said GP2GP ensures doctors have patients' medical histories available in advance of their first consultation and delivers "major time savings for administrative staff".
Comments
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1. Philip Virgo
30 years after the Exeter trials showed the practicality and value of exchanging patient data electronically between Gps and hopstials and 23 years after the DTI paid for the NCC Microsystems Centre to pilot a routine for testing and evaluating GP computer systems, most of which even then contained routines for the full or partial exchange of electronic patient records including with other GPs, with multi-layer confidentiality protections, we finally have an NHS approved system.
What we still do not appear to have have, which was available even in the GP systems being promoted in the early 1980s, is the automatic logging of adverse reactions for collation and reporting to both the NHS and the Pharmaceutical suppliers.
What progress!
Philip Virgo, Corporate Planner, Wellcome Foundation 1977 - 82
Technology Assessment Services Manager NCC (including the NCC Microsystems Centre) 1982 - 4
Strategic Advisor to IMIS, 1994 - Present
2. Mikal Dunne
Recently been involved in NHS IT Support this scares the heck out of me. Just who will enforce the controls to access such records? How will access be granted? So far as I can tell this will be too easy to abuse and allow weak individuals the chance to earn a quick buck selling the information. The NHS doesn't have a clue when it comes to security, policies or their enforcement. Management with no IT knowledge rule the roost and cause more harm than good.