Out-Law News 2 min. read
14 Dec 2015, 3:11 pm
In a new digital health and social care strategy for Wales it said it is "committed to providing citizens with online access to their information held in the GP practice electronic system by April 2017".
People will be able to add further information to those records, such as data recorded on health and wellbeing apps and wearable devices "where considered appropriate", the Welsh government said.
"Many services still rely on paper records but where information is held digitally it will become possible for citizens to view this information, for example, letters and other correspondence, current medication and test results, subject always to appropriate considerations regarding security and confidentiality," the new strategy paper said. "The public will have confidence that their data is held securely and always shared appropriately to support their direct care."
"Additionally, we want citizens to take responsibility for other uses of their personal information and have the opportunity to choose what they share and with whom, including family members and their carers, if this is what they want to happen. People will have the opportunity to contribute to their records if they wish and where it is appropriate for them to do so," it said.
The Welsh government said people in Wales will "routinely use digital apps, wearable devices and other online resources to be well-informed and active participants in their care" under its plans. They will also be able to book appointments and order repeat prescriptions via online systems as well as "use the internet, email and video conferencing to connect with clinicians and care professionals in a way that suits them".
The Welsh government said that technology would also be used to ensure patients receive digital prompts, such as reminders about forthcoming appointments or to take medication or exercise.
Staff, patients and visitors to NHS hospitals will be able to access free Wi-Fi services under the proposals, according to the strategy, and NHS staff in Wales will also make use of digital technology at NHS premises as well as off-site.
"Simplicity of data capture is critically important," the Welsh government's strategy said. "Staff working in busy, often pressurised, hospital environments, or remotely in community settings and people’s homes, need to be able to access, collect, validate and transmit data easily and quickly using mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and other data-entry approaches such as voice recognition."
"Staff must be able to capture information once at the point of care and make it available to others involved in that person’s care. This will avoid unnecessary duplication for staff in repeating data capture processes and also stop people being asked unnecessarily for the same demographic details and other information on numerous occasions, unless this is for clinical safety and effectiveness reasons," it said.
A new "‘open’ technical platform" will be built to support the new plans and will be interoperable with different systems, the strategy said.
"The growing trend in using technology and collecting personalised data means we are seeing an explosion in the scale and variety of available health and well-being data," the Welsh government said. "Wales needs to be ready and proactive in deploying the technical platforms and a service intelligence approach to be able to store, process and exploit this ‘big data’ and link it to other health and social care data sets, such as financial and workforce data, to develop a truly informed system."