Islington CCG plans £11m patient record scheme

Doctors and nurses will be able to access patient health records through a new Facebook-style page or app being developed by Islington clinical commissioning group (CCG). 

The pages could be updated automatically with data sent from blood pressure machines or weighing scales. 

And new medications and hospital discharges will also be included on the site, which will allow patient records to be accessed from any computer in England. 

Patients would be able to control their own details. The CCG believes confidentiality issues could be solved through patients allowing others access to the record.  

Islington CCG will spend an estimated £10.8 million on the software. Islington Council will contribute £600,000, and if the business case is approved NHS England will donate £1.7 million. 

Creating the software will cost around £3.5 million, and it is expected to cost £1 million per year to run. 

However, the CCG believes it will save £14 million over the life of the project.

Katie Coleman, vice-chair of Islington CCG said: “Clinicians tell us that the biggest problem they come up with is the lack of joined-up technology and this problem of consent when sharing information. 

“We need to make it easy for information to be shared so that residents feel in control of their information. People will be able to take their data with them wherever they go. You could use it in Islington, in Cornwall or in Scotland.”