About the Mid and South Essex Shared Care Record
Residents in mid and south Essex are set to receive better connected care and safer treatment, thanks to the introduction of the Mid and South Essex Shared Care Record. This digital solution brings together key information from diverse health and social care records into a structured and easy-to-read format. The goal is to equip professionals with more holistic view of a person’s clinical and care history. This not only facilitates inter-service collaboration but also saves time and enhances the quality and safety of care provided.
Information which will be available
The Shared Care Record will provide access to selected information – it is not an individual’s full health and care record. Information within the Shared Care Record will include things such as clinical notes, medication details, diagnostic results, treatment histories, allergies, discharge letters, and current conditions, among other crucial information. We will share up-to-date details about what information will be shared by each partner closer to the launch. Further details on this can be found in the ‘Accessing the Shared Care Record’ section.
The national and local context
The development of a Shared Care Record is a key commitment within the NHS Long Term Plan, which also mandates that all Integrated Care Systems progress their Shared Care Records to include social care by 2024/25. In October 2022, the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board approved a Digital Investment Plan which focuses on the delivery of core digital capabilities across our Integrated Care System. The Shared Care Record was agreed as one of three key strategic digital priorities outlined in this plan.
What it is (and what it isn’t)
The Shared Care Record is designed to provide health and care professionals with seamless access to data by consolidating vital information from the various clinical and care systems used across mid and south Essex. Whether this is from a GP appointment or a hospital admission, data will be made available in a structured and easy-to-read format. It’s important to clarify a few things about the Shared Care Record:
- It’s not an electronic patient record (EPR) or digital social care record: These systems allow staff to view, manage, and contribute to a person’s digital health or care record. The Shared Care Record will pull information from those systems into one single place.
- It is not the summary care record: Summary care records are electronic medical records created from GP medical records only. A summary care record typically holds information about current medication, allergies, and personal details. A shared care record contains much more information. It brings together data from the various systems used by people involved in an individual’s care.
- It is a read-only platform: It provides a consolidated view of a patient’s information without the capability to alter the data. This means that professionals in other organisations won’t be able to edit the data within your system.
- It doesn’t replace other existing systems: The Shared Care Record doesn’t aim to replace other platforms or systems you might use – it’s an additional tool to support health and care professionals provide excellent care.
- It is exclusively for professionals: This system can only be accessed by health and care professionals. Patients will not have access to the Shared Care Record.
Objectives and key benefits
By seamlessly sharing health and care data from multiple systems, we aim to create a more efficient, safer, and patient-centred environment for care delivery. Specifically, we can:
- Enable safer treatment: By providing professionals with instant access to essential data such as medications and allergies, even when patients can’t recall these details themselves.
- Support emergency response: Allowing access to a patient’s complete medical history can be lifesaving during emergencies, enabling faster diagnosis and treatment.
- Enhance patient-centred care: By consolidating vital data, we reduce the need for patients to repeat their history across different organisations. This gives professionals a more holistic view of each patient’s health and care journey.
- Support informed and timely decisions: Professionals will have 24/7 access to recent patient histories, including tests and scans, facilitating informed, real-time decision-making – anytime, anywhere.
- Save time and reduce administrative burden: By centralising key information, we free up professionals to focus on care delivery and achieve time and cost savings.
- Ensure care continuity: As people move between different health and social care services, shared care records enable smoother transitions, improving the patient experience and maintaining consistency in care quality.
Partners who are involved
The Shared Care Record will include the following partners from the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System:
- East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST)
- Essex County Council
- Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT)
- GP practices and PCNs within mid and south Essex
- IC24
- Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (MSE ICB)
- Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSE FT)
- North East London NHS Foundation trust (NELFT)
- Provide CIC
- Southend City Council
- Thurrock Council
Our longer-term aim is to include voluntary, charity, and third sector organisations, but this will not happen in the initial phase of the programme.
Getting ready for the launch
Rollout phasing and initial focus area
While the Shared Care Record system will be accessible by all health and care professionals within your organisation, the first phase prioritises data integration which is most needed for frailty and complex adult care. People with complex needs often receive care from multiple organisations across the Integrated Care System.
This targeted strategy allows for the efficient allocation of resources, maximising immediate benefits for both residents and providers. This approach has been collaboratively agreed upon with our partners to prioritise the integration of datasets that are most crucial for these particular care pathways.
Estimated timeline for launch:
- Spring 2024: All partner organisations will be able to access the Shared Care Record. Data will be shared by most healthcare partners. Further details about this will be made available closer to the time.
- Autumn 2024: Data from local authorities will be incorporated, further enriching this as a shared resource.
Training and support
Training and guidance on how to use and make the most of the Shared Care Record will be provided closer to the rollout date to help your familiarise yourself with the system. We will also share details on how you can raise support queries.
Accessing the Shared Care Record
Preliminary access model
While the specific access model for the Shared Care Record is still being finalised, our current plan is to make the Shared Care Record accessible within your own clinical/care system when you open the record for a person in your care. This means you won’t need a separate logon or password to access the Shared Care Record when viewing a person’s details within your own system. It also means that you won’t need to search again for a person’s record. This aims to make the transition as smooth, efficient, and secure as possible for all professionals involved in person’s care.
Role-based access control (RBAC)
Access permissions for the Shared Care Record will be determined by the role-based access control established within each participating organisation. This means that if you are authorised to view certain types of health or care information within your current system, you will have corresponding level of access within the Shared Care Record. This approach ensures that professionals will have access only to the relevant information they are authorised to see, which is essential for carrying out their care responsibilities effectively and securely.
Patient access
The Shared Care Record is not a patient portal. It does not allow residents to access their own information.
Further details about access
Additional information regarding access protocols will be provided closer to the launch of the Shared Care Record.
Data security and information governance
The Shared Care Record adheres to the highest standards of data protection and confidentiality. Information is only accessible through a secure IT system, and rigorous safeguards are in place to prevent unauthorised access.
All records are strictly confidential and can only be accessed by clinical and care staff who are directly involved in an individual’s care. We are using role-based access control (RBAC), meaning that people can only see certain level of information based on their professional role.
The Shared Care Record is accessed over a secure network, and data will not be stored outside of secure systems. Visit the MyCareRecord website to find out more about how and why health and care data is shared for direct care purposes. MyCareRecord is the name of our approach to data sharing, and is not specific to an individual system such as the Cerner Health Information Exchange (HIE).
Patients opting out of data sharing
The Shared Care Record is for direct care and will not be used for planning or research purposes. Therefore, opt-outs received for national data programmes such as the General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GP DPR) do not apply to Mid and South Essex Shared Care Record.
Objections to sharing data for direct care are recorded in GP clinical systems separately to opt-outs for national secondary use. If you have questions about recording patient preferences on your clinical system, please speak to your IT service provider.
Audit requirements for the Shared Care Record
The audit requirements for the Shared Care Record will be contingent upon the access model agreed upon by partner organisations. It’s important to note that additional auditing may be required if partners opt for a model that involves direct access to the Shared Care Record, which is not done through their existing clinical/care system. Further details on audit requirements will be provided closer to the launch date.
Clinical safety
Clinical safety of the Shared Care Record is a paramount concern for all involved. We have a designated Clinical Safety Officer for the programme who is actively collaborating with colleagues from each partner organisation to ensure we have robust clinical risk management in place. This meticulous oversight aims to mitigate any risks that could arise from sharing outdates, incorrect or incomplete data, thereby ensuring that health and care professionals can rely on the Shared Care Record for safe and effective care. If you’d like to speak with us about clinical safety, you can contact us.
Integration with existing systems
Information within the Shared Care Record is available via a secure IT system and can be accessed by different care providers regardless of the computer software programmes they use. The Shared Care Record pulls together data from different systems (getting the systems talking to each other) – it does not store any data itself.
In most cases, data will be relayed to the Shared Care Record directly from the original record and up-to-date information is instantly available. The information is refreshed each time you re-open the record. For technical reasons, some record systems cannot connect directly and will send information to the Shared Care Record in a regular periodic way.
We will confirm further details about this closer to the launch of the Shared Care Record.
Information management within the Shared Care Record
The Shared Care Record is a read-only platform that offers an aggregated view of a person’s health and care information across multiple systems. While it consolidates data for easier access and reference, it does not allow users to modify the original records held in individual systems. Each participating organisation retains stewardship of its own records. This ensures not only that professionals from other organisations cannot edit your data, but also maintains standard of data quality and integrity.
How to get involved
From the outset, clinical and care professionals have been integral to the development of the Shared Care Record. They have offered insights, shared expertise, and heled to ensure that the system is designed to meet the needs of residents and care providers within mid and south Essex. If you’d like to become involved, we invite you to participate in upcoming workshops, feedback sessions, and other collaborative events. To join us in this collaborative effort or for any questions, feel free to contact us.
Understanding terms used on this page
For clarity on the terminology used on this page, please refer to our Shared Care Record (SCR) glossary of terms and acronym log. This resource provides definitions and explanations for the specific terms and acronyms related to the Shared Care Record programme. Should you come across any terms on this page that are not immediately clear, the glossary will be a useful reference. We welcome your suggestions for any additions to this glossary, which can be sent to [email protected]
How to contact the programme team
If you have any questions that haven’t been addressed or would like to offer suggestions and feedback, we encourage you to reach out to us. We’ve set up a dedicated email address for direct communication with the programme team. Your input is invaluable in guiding us as we move forward with this ambitious project, and we are keen to hear from you.
