Attendees to a medtech conference in Manchester, UK, have heard how the region’s shared care record is now being used by more than 240,000 clinicians across the city to ensure that vital medical and prescription information can be accessed wherever patients go.
Kicking-off proceedings at the Health Care Excellence Through Technology (HETT) North conference at the Manchester Central Convention Centre on 26 January, Richard Leese, chair of the National Health Service (NHS) Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB), detailed how the city had been using electronic patient records (EPR) to provide healthcare sites across Greater Manchester with unified access.
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Ranging across hospitals, general practices, and private facilities, Leese added that the recording service has now opened up to community pharmacies, with plans to expand it into dentistry and optometry. He also said the body intends to increase usage of the EPR system by 20% every year to provide all Manchester-based clinicians with access.
Speaking to attendees as part of the event’s opening keynote, Leese said: “There have been a record-breaking 361,487 EPRs accessed in January. Nearly 49,000 more than any previous month. This milestone is more than just numbers, it means that 49,000 patients potentially experienced faster, safer and more informed care in one month alone.
“While these are important statistics, what is equally important is that it saves time, and that means money. We estimate that we have saved the equivalent of £15m over the last year in clinician time. When clinicians have access to information, it makes engaging with patients a much smoother process. This is a key example of the analogue to the digital shift taking place across the NHS.”
Leese added that data taken from the EPR is taken and pushed towards the care system’s Advanced Data Science Platform (ADSP), used to make determinations about the health and wellbeing of the city’s population. Using data collected throughout the last six years, the authority is now able to make healthcare projections for the area up to five years ahead.
Leese stated: “In simple terms, we can project what will happen in five years if we just do nothing, and what it looks like in five years if we don’t change is pretty scary. We have that information and that means we can identify the impact of tackling modifiable risk behaviours together and target individuals with single or multiple morbidity risks who can be treated through early intervention.”
Research by GlobalData estimates that by the end of this year, the UK-wide market for EPR is expected to bring in approximately $81.5m, with that figure expected to remain level throughout the decade. The global market for EPRs is expected to bring in revenue of more than $1.2bn by the end of 2030.
GlobalData is the parent company of Medical Device Network.
Elsewhere in the city’s healthcare scene, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidelines calling for the use of a remote heart monitoring pathway developed by a Manchester university. Meanwhile, an initiative to see general practices across the city fitted with clinically validated LungHealth software could save the city £65.6m a year.
