Electronic discharge summaries to save NHS time

Hospitals across England will soon be able to send secure and standardised clinical patient discharge summaries and outpatient attendance information electronically to GP systems.

NHS Digital says that during its trial with Dorset County Hospital, the organisation was able to send over 4,000 structured Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) messages to four volunteer GP practices locally, including outpatient letters, emergency care and inpatient discharge summaries.

The system saves GP practices time in processing and clarifying the information they receive, so changes can be tracked and necessary actions taken. It will also notify hospitals when messages have been delivered and have been actioned. GPs and hospitals benefit from a reduction in paper use, postal costs and time re-typing information into their computer system.

Traditionally GPs have had to enter information from patient discharge letters into GP systems, taking up valuable admin time. National transfer of care messages allow for the data to be easily extracted straight into GP computer systems. Adopting clinical and technical standards in electronic healthcare records across the NHS in England, allows clinical information to be recorded, shared and accessed consistently to deliver better care and outcomes for patients.

Andrew Meyer, Director of Platforms at NHS Digital, said: “Improving transfers of care between hospitals and GP practices is a vitally important step to enhance patient care across different health and care settings. We have come a long way from the early days of sending discharge information through the post, fax and even email to now providing a standardised and reliable service.

“Hospital staff can be reassured that the messages they send to GP practices have been delivered, read and acted upon, without the need to follow up with telephone calls. Interoperability between different systems is key to reaching this target and we aim to work with other Trusts and GP suppliers to ensure that all GP computer systems can send and receive transfer of care messages in the near future.”

NHS Digital is now working with mental health trusts to develop a first of type for mental health inpatient discharge notices.