The NHS Alliance has called on the Government to set up a solid strategy for patient information.
In its formal response to the Information Revolution White Paper, which the Alliance says is a practical and aspirational approach to patient information, the organisation raised issues around funding, strategy and staff.
Dr Brian Fisher, the NHS Alliance lead for public and patient involvement, said: "The White Paper sets out an ambitious vision for the future of information in the NHS. However, there is no clear strategy about how we will achieve this vision. Also, with the current changes to the NHS, staff and funding issues will become critical."
Over the past few years, the Alliance has been a strong advocate of patients being in control of their own data. "This can be achieved through a system that enables patient feedback, encourages self-case and shared decision-making between patients and clinicians," added Dr Fisher.
The NHS Alliance made the following recommendations:
- That a strategy be developed across the NHS, perhaps employing an NSF-type approach. The Alliance would be happy to help in this process.
- That the NHS harnesses existing technologies that go a long way to solving many of the issues. For instance, there are already excellent examples of patients having access to their GP records through the EMIS/PAERS system. It would be cheap and effective to spread this across the NHS.
- That the NHS develops a collaborative dialogue with those private sector solutions that exist.
- That IT's potentiality for benefit will be limited most by cultural reticence both by clinicians and by the NHS itself. The NHS Commissioning Board will need to take the lead in creating a culture that makes harnessing IT as likely and as easy as possible.
- Patients are most likely to begin to use new functionality. Patients can become a strong 'pull factor' if this is handled thoughtfully by the NHS.
- One of the strong drivers is effective information use for commissioning. This could be another pull factor. If systems can aggregate and mine data usefully, there will be incentives for clinicians to record data accurately.
Source:
NHS Alliance