Healthcare records are joining up across London to improve services
To help health and care professionals make quicker and safer decisions about your care, wherever they are treating you, healthcare records are joining up cross Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington (North Central London) as well as other boroughs across London. This is part of the North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB)’s London Care Record.
What does this mean for you?
Health and care professionals have shared information on paper for many years – we are now able to do this using digital technology.
When you visit one of our hospitals or your GP, your healthcare worker will have all the information to hand to treat you effectively and efficiently. You won’t need to relay the full story of your symptoms, what happened or the medicines you were prescribed, as this will be already accessible from your notes.
Information will be available in real time – or in some cases within 24 hours – and will ensure your health and care teams have the most up to date information about your care.
Under GDPR regulations, information will only be shared and accessed on a strictly need to know basis by health and care professionals across the five boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington and other London regions, Milton Keynes, Hertfordshire and West Essex. For more information see the One London website: https://www.onelondon.online/london-care-record/. The information is only used for the purposes of direct care. Data will always be securely held.
What are the benefits of joined-up records?
For people using health and care services, there are many advantages to having joined-up records including:
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Everyone involved in your direct care will have the whole picture
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When you visit somewhere different for care or meet a new care professional, they will have access to your health and care information and you won’t need to repeat your story
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The results of common tests (for example blood tests) will be available to everyone involved in your care, regardless of where the test took place, reducing the need to repeat them or obtain printed results
For us and other health and social care professionals:
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We will have up-to-date information to plan and improve your care and make more informed decisions
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We will have to spend less time finding out relevant information from different health and social care organisations and IT systems, and won’t have to spend time recording duplicate information across records
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We can work as a team across north central London to identify opportunities for improvement, such as seeing if there needs to be more focus on providing physical health checks for people with learning disabilities
More information on the benefits and what is means for you is available on the North Central London ICB website https://nclhealthandcare.org.uk/our-working-areas/using-digital-technology-to-improve-health-and-care/info-residents/
Who else is involved?
Other health and care organisations in the NCL ICB’s sustainability and transformation partnership (NCL STP) such as GP practices and other hospitals and providers across the boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington and other London regions; Milton Keynes, Hertfordshire and West Essex. For more information see the One London website: https://www.onelondon.online/london-care-record/.
Do I have a choice?
We ask you to think carefully before opting out of joined-up records. Sharing your health and social care information will make it easier for services to provide the best treatment and care for you.
Please note that if you opt out of electronic record sharing, your information will continue to be shared, as it is now, by email, telephone and paper.
Read more about why this is so important and what the benefits of joined-up care records are for residents: https://nclhealthandcare.org.uk/our-working-areas/using-digital-technology-to-improve-health-and-care/info-residents/examples/
If you still wish to opt out of sharing data with the London Care Record, please note opting out will remove access to all records wherever in North Central London your care took place e.g. GP, RNOH, UCLH etc. Click here to Opt Out: Opting out of the joined-up health and care record - North Central London Integrated Care System (nclhealthandcare.org.uk)