Summary Care Record use jumps in Bolton

Use of the Summary Care Record by the out-of-hours service in Bolton has risen from 200 accesses a month to 200 accesses a week following the introduction of an integrated ‘SCR’ system from Adastra.

Adastra’s integrated SCR enables fast ‘two click’ access to the national Summary Care Record than was previously available, enabling summary care record access to become routine to check whether a patient has an SCR record.

The increase in uptake has been mirrored in other urgent care settings in Bolton where the Adastra SCR integrated solution is available, according to Dr Darren Mansfield, NHS Bolton’s clinical lead for urgent care.

He told EHI Primary Care: “The difference since we’ve had the integrated system has been exponential and it’s still rising. The integrated version has had a dramatic effect on the number of hits and the benefits we are starting to see.”

Dr Mansfield said the Adastra solution gave access to the SCR within two clicks and was available in the out-of-hours centre, Bolton’s walk-in centre and the GP service at Royal Bolton Hospital’s A&E department.

“We basically access it as the norm now unless a patient withholds permission and that has never happened to my knowledge," he added.

Dr Mansfield said the difference between use of the SCR in the GP stream in the A&E department at the Royal Bolton Hospital and use by staff working in the main emergency department was marked.

He added: “The GP stream can access the SCR through Adastra where it instantly flashes up to tell you if the patient has an SCR but the emergency clinicians have to go on to the national Spine and look to see if a patient has an SCR and the difference in access is very noticeable.”

Dr Mansfield predicted the usefulness of the SCR would increase as more content was available via the application. The initial automatic upload contains just the patient’s prescribing history and any allergies but Bolton is following its fellow SCR early adopter NHS Bury by piloting the addition of end of life information.

He added: “I believe the addition of that information will mean the impact out-of-hours services can make on end of life quality of life would be phenomenal.”